Highway Tragedy: Elderly Pedestrian Run Over

Police tonight have served a Notice of Intended Prosecution to forty-four‑year‑old Juan Lionardo of Duck Run Village, after the truck he was driving allegedly ran over an elderly man on the Thomas Vincent Ramos Highway. The victim, sixty-eight‑year‑old Houston Reynolds, was walking toward Kendall Village on Friday night when he was fatally struck in Maya Center. Visibility along that stretch of road has been a long‑standing concern, but information reaching News Five suggests Reynolds was also under the influence and had reportedly been found sleeping on the highway about an hour before the crash. News Five’s Paul Lopez has the story.

 

Paul Lopez, Reporting

Sixty‑eight‑year‑old Houston Reynolds lost his life in Maya Center after a vehicle ran him over along the Thomas Vincent Ramos Highway. That stretch of road is dangerously dark at night; whole sections have no streetlights at all, leaving drivers with almost zero visibility. But darkness wasn’t the only factor. Reports to News Five say Reynolds was also under the influence of alcohol at the time, adding another layer to this tragic situation.

 

ASP Stacy Smith, Staff Officer

“The fatal accident occurred at approximately seven-fifteen p.m. between miles thirteen and fourteen on the Thomas Vincent Ramos Highway in southern Belize. The investigation commenced when Hopkins police were alerted to the incident and they responded to the scene where they observed the motionless body of Mr. Reynolds along with a damaged beach cruiser. Initial investigation suggests that Reynolds was riding his bicycle and is reported to have fallen off and a truck being driven by Leonardo came and that resulted in Mr. Reynolds being ran over, leading to his untimely demise. I know what has been included in the report is that prior to Mr. Reynolds departing he was at a bar in the area I believe.”

Reynolds’ longtime friend, Algin Logan, told News Five that villagers found Reynolds sleeping on the highway before the incident and tried to move him to safety.

 

Algin Logan, Friend of Deceased

“I never know nothing until my cousin come around and said they knock down somebody. I never know dah who. He said he will find out. So he went. When the man come back he said dah Tall B, Houston. He said, he was drinking by the Chinese. From there we went to the bar across the road and asked for three beers, share his beers, one for him, one for the next man. The man mih done drunk. So they led him across the board bridge and the man cross and from there took the road coming down. When the friend that was with him gone home and get the news he come out back and gone check. When he get there it was the man for true, Houston, Tall B. The night, because dah seven o’clock deh knock ah. Let’s say about six thirty he was on the road. After he got up from there he continues down the road. He come further, put down his bike and laid down on the road.”

 

One villager who lives along the highway, directly in front of where a truck ran over Reynolds, says that she heard a loud noise just outside her home. She was among the first responders at the scene.

 

Voice of: Maya Center Resident

“We the lay down when we hear like something buss. We come outside and say maybe something drop from a truck. But at the same time, my common law gone and my father gone and that is right where they saw the accident. They saw the man laying down in the middle of the road. From earlier they tried to move him. Maybe he come back home. I don’t know maybe he was coming from Kendall and going home and that is right there where he got in the accident. Yes it is dangerous, worst when you going to Kendall. It is hard. You cant see nothing.”

 

Reynolds’ intoxication, combined with the near‑total darkness on that stretch of highway, proved fatal. But beyond the circumstances of his death, his longtime friend Algin Logan says he’s simply mourning the loss of someone he shared decades of friendship with. The two, both getting up in age, often joked about who would outlive the other.

 

Algin Logan

“Love a liquor. He would drink everyday if he could afford it. He just get pay Friday evening and the night he dead. We were friends for may years. He lived here in a thatch house he build. He moved from there and went further back to live in another thatch house and moved again, until he went up the river. Well its just one of those things. We cant do nothing. No more advice. Its just that, one friend gone.”

 

Reynolds was originally from Sittee River. He spent most of his days farming and selling his produce. Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.