By Bryan Manabat
[email protected]
Variety News Staff
A 67-year-old woman died Wednesday morning after being struck by a vehicle driven by a firefighter near the Shell gas station in Puerto Rico.
Emergency personnel from the Department of Public Safety and the Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services responded to the scene following the incident.
Authorities said the woman was crossing Pale Arnold Road when she was struck. Traffic in the area was temporarily diverted as police processed the scene.
In a statement, DPS said, “Preliminary investigation indicates that the operator of the vehicle was traveling northbound past the Shell gas station when he felt his vehicle strike something. The driver applied his brakes, pulled over to the shoulder, and then observed the pedestrian lying on the roadway.”
DPS said “the driver and the vehicle involved remained at the scene.”
In a separate statement, DFEMS said it received a call on Feb. 11 at 7:29 a.m. from a female caller who reported witnessing a person being struck by a vehicle near the Shell gas station. Medics were dispatched from the Garapan Fire Station and arrived at 7:36 a.m.
“Once on scene, responding units found a 67-year-old female who did not have a pulse and was not breathing, and two persons were performing pulmonary resuscitation on her,” DFEMS public information officer Rob Mojica said. “It was determined that the two performing CPR were a firefighter and a nurse.”
While gathering information, responders were told that the operator of the vehicle was the firefighter, who got out of his vehicle after the accident and began assessing the patient.
“When she was found not breathing and without a pulse, the firefighter immediately started performing CPR,” Mojica said. “A nurse who happened to be driving by pulled over to assist. After one set of compressions from the firefighter, she continued chest compressions while the firefighter provided rescue breaths via mouth-to-mouth.”
According to DFEMS, the patient was transported to the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation’s emergency room, where she was pronounced dead at 7:55 a.m.
DPS has not released the name of the victim, pending notification of next of kin. Details about the driver, the vehicle’s make, speed, or any potential contributing factors have not been confirmed.
Additional information will be released as it becomes available, DPS said.
Bryan Manabat was a liberal arts student of Northern Marianas College where he also studied criminal justice. He is the recipient of the NMI Humanities Award as an Outstanding Teacher (Non-Classroom) in 2013, and has worked for the CNMI Motheread/Fatheread Literacy Program as lead facilitator.
