Boy, 10, killed in car-bike collision

A 10-year-old boy died when a bicycle he was driving collided with a car being driven by former Rep. Ana S. Teregeyo in lower Dandan Homestead Saturday at noon.

The boy had severe trauma/laceration to the head and abrasions in his lower extremities. A doctor at the Commonwealth Health Center pronounced him dead at 2:40pm, according to the Department of Public Safety yesterday.

Teregeyo, 60, was not arrested after traffic investigators determined that the boy was at fault in the crash.

“Speed and alcohol were not factors to this crash, but the case is still under investigation,” said DPS spokesperson Lei Ogumoro.

She said that it was Teregeyo who called DPS Saturday at 12:52pm and reported the collision along Holiday Drive in lower Dandan Homestead.

When traffic and patrol officers arrived at the scene, they requested for medics.

Preliminary investigation showed that Teregeyo was heading north on Holiday Drive aboard a burgundy two-door wagon 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser.

The boy was riding a black/blue bicycle and was heading west on Independence Loop, when he entered Holiday Drive, colliding with Teregeyo’s vehicle.

Ogumoro said that medics immediately transported the boy to CHC’s emergency room for further assessment and treatment, but he was later pronounced dead.

Police said the bicycle frame was slightly bent, while the vehicle had no visible damage.

Ogumoro said the weather was cloudy and the road surface was slightly wet from a shower earlier that day.

She said the boy violated a subsection in the CNMI Vehicle Code that states: “Any vehicle entering the intersection shall stop at the entrance to a through highway.”

Ogumoro said the Vehicle Code also states that any vehicle entering the intersection shall also “yield the right of way to other vehicles which have entered the intersection from the through highway or which are approaching so closely on the through highway as to constitute an immediate hazard.”

She said the Vehicle Code further states that any vehicle entering the intersection “shall continue to yield the right of way to the approaching vehicles until such time as he can proceed with reasonable safety.”

The boy is the second vehicular fatality this year in the CNMI.

On Feb. 8, a 65-year-old Chinese man died when a pickup truck struck him as he was crossing Middle Road in Garapan.

On Dec. 6, 2007, a male fire dancer died when his car ran off the roadway and slammed into a power pole along Middle Road in Garapan.

Three fatal vehicular crashes occurred in 2007.

In 2006, there were six fatalities in vehicular accidents in the CNMI. All occurred on Saipan.