Who Was Driving? Family Questions Fatal Mahogany Street Crash  

On Wednesday night, an SUV struck a man on Mahogany Street and fatality injured him. The victim has been identified as forty-five-year-old Chester Norales. He was not too far from his home when the incident occurred. His relatives are now questioning who was driving the SUV at the time of the incident. They are also demanding a thorough investigation and a review of surveillance cameras in the area. Now, Noralez’s name might ring a bell, because he has made headlines before. But on Wednesday night his life was cut short in the community he called home for the last four and a half decades. News Five’s Paul Lopez reports.

 

Paul Lopez, Reporting

The crumpled front end of this SUV tells the story of a violent impact, one that claimed the life of forty-five-year-old Chester Norales on Mahogany Street on Wednesday night. His sister, Stephanie, says the call came around ten p.m., and in that moment, her world turned upside down.

 

Voice of: Stephanie Norales, Sister of Deceased

“I got a call after ten o’clock last night who was my close friend. She told me that they found my brother on mahogany Street knocked down fighting for his life. I got another call and it was my neighbor and she said Steph I think your brother is dead. I said, dead? So I jumped in my vehicle and going there and seeing my brother laying down on the floor, he looked dead and I started crying and I couldn’t believe they knocked down a human being like that. It was the scene I had to accept.”

 

Stephanie Norales believes her brother was probably in the area to grab something to eat. She says that he was on an electric bike, his preferred mode of transportation. She says that the occupants of the vehicle were still at the scene when she arrived.

 

Stephanie Norales

“I recall approaching the vehicle that ran over my brother and you could actually see underneath the bottom of the vehicle my brother frame of the scooter bike, the latest one that is in.”

Initial reports suggest a police officer was behind the wheel during the crash, but Norales believes it was actually a teenager driving the SUV at the time.

 

Stephanie Norales

“And I will be honest to you, God is not sleeping and I might not have proof to say it exactly, but the cameras on the streets might have it. In each area Belize is getting upgrade and I love it, because everywhere you travel in the states you see cameras all over.”

Chester Norales was set to celebrate his forty-sixth birthday in the coming weeks. And if his name rings a bell it’s because Norales is no stranger to the law. His name has been called in several violent crimes. Attempts have also been made on his life. His family says that despite his past, they remained steadfast in their support for him.

 

Stephanie Norales

“When I reached there, the way how my brother is laying I think the person just ran over him, knocked him down. And, it shows over his body. His body actually has the mark of the wheel, the mud of the vehicle. His knees are broken. His arms look broken and his neck also go broken, because his whole face was messed with sand and that was off the wheel, because they just drove over my brother.”

Chester Norales also enjoyed moving around the city on his bicycle. Today, that bike stood in his sister’s yard, a reminder of a life lost. His family is now demanding justice for his death.

 

Stephanie Norales

“Coolie was the life of the house, the darkest one of the family, the clown of the house, the Michael Jackson guy when we were small. Me and my brother, I am one year older than my brother and I remember growing up, we were the same age for one month, because I am November and he is October. When he got an age older he felt like he was my boss, you know. You always go through stuff with your family and I always tell everybody, we as individuals have to have each other back, no matter what.”

 

Police are yet to levy any charges against the alleged driver of the SUV. Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.