Three national days of mourning declared after four students killed in San Ramón
Posted: Wednesday, July 20, 2011 - By Matt Lechuga
Four students died after they were struck by a car during the early morning Wednesday.
Four students were killed Wednesday morning in an accident that occurred in San Rafael de San Ramón, Alajuela, 65 km northwest of San José.
A group of nine senior students from Julio Acosta García High School in San Ramón were hit by a driver in a Toyota Tercel while walking on the side of the road, according to the daily La Nacíon. The newspaper reported that the group had been singing a serenade, a tradition among students in their last year of high school.
Dennis Méndez, Luis Alonso Solís and Angie Miranda, all 18, died at the scene. A fourth victim identified as 18-year-old Iván Elizondo died at Hospital Mexico. President Laura Chinchilla declared three days of mourning in the afternoon.
A fifth student, identified as 17-year-old Joxiny Hidalgo, remains in critical condition, a spokeswoman for Hospital México said.
The accident occurred at approximately 4 a.m.
The Judicial Investigation took the driver, whose last name is Chavarría, into custody. According to La Nación, Chavarría is a 25-year-old prison guard at La Reforma Prison in Alajuela. He was allegedly driving on a license that expired in 2006, his vehicle had a circulation permit from another automobile, and the car’s vehicle inspection sticker was issued for a motorcycle.
Instructions:
1. First, you will read the new posted on the blog related to a recent event of four students who were killed by a drunk driver.
2. When you finish reading answer the following questions as your blog’s comment.
1. What is your perspective or opinion about this pitiful event?
2. What is your opinion about Costa Rican’s laws and punishment in regards to drunk drivers? Do they deserve a harder sentence?
3. As a student of eleventh grade, what suggestions or precautions can you take into account and give to other students when doing these types of activities (serenades) late at night?
I am not agree about students were sitting on the street at early morning and drinking, because it is dangerous for them, not only for a traffic accident, also for a thief. I am not agree with the punishment that was applied. I think it should be 50 years in prison because he is responsible for the deaths of 3 teenagers. In Costa Rica the laws are often very light and I think in this case, they should give the maximum prison sentence. I suggest teenager must to be careful and do not to drink too much alcohol because it can make you lose your awareness of things. Also if they wanna drink alcohol they must do it in a house, not in the middle of the street and if they will be on the street at night they should wear visible clothes and walk near to street lighting to avoid not being seen by drunk drivers. Brenda Vargas Muñoz
ResponderEliminarmmm ... I think the 2 are to blame, both the driver with the students .. the driver for drunk driving and students to walk at that hour of the night on the street, should make his serenade in one place, a safer place and not walk the streets without thinking that something bad could happen .. . the government should have more police to monitor it ... that people drive with expired licenses and should Catigara harder to see if they stop.....carolina rodriguez salas
ResponderEliminarTo me it seems to me that it is a very sad story, I think the most important thing is the life and we must care for her long and does not handle after having consumed alcohol. Rules in Costa Rica are not good and are not punished as to those who deserve it is a very serious crime or not so serious, the problem is that there are countries that the laws are strict and here in Costa Rica are not so strict and everybody does what they want and that must not be so, we have a Constitution that we must respect because it is the boss and is the mother of the country. It is very common to see this type of accidents in young people in school, they are falling into the hands of the alcohol and other drugs and they are always the hardest in this aspect and passed them these things for celebrations and other activities where alcohol consumption is essential for them to attend. I advise we must be very careful with festivals, not to consume alcohol in excess, not drive after drinking alcohol and take care of the very beautiful life Dios gave us: D......... KIMBERLY BRENES LEDEZMA.
ResponderEliminarI think it is unfortunate what happened, the death of many young people is impressive. But I am surprised even more the laws of Costa Rica who never do what they should do, a person driving on the street in these conditions without taking into account the risk is for many pedestrians and even drivers. The lives of many more people would have been at risk if not for already in jail. What I can tell students of eleventh year that we attend the serenade is to care they think drink and make sure the place you go is safe for most incidents do not occur. The laws of the country should be more harsh to punish people according to their evil deeds so that everyone learns to take responsibility for what you do and be more careful the next time.
ResponderEliminar1.What is your perspective or opinion about this pitiful event? it´s very sad
ResponderEliminarthat something like the "serenades" have this end, this students just was doing
a tradicional event of the seniors señor (:
2. What is your opinion about Costa Rican’s laws and punishment in
regards to drunk drivers? Do they deserve a harder sentence? the laws of our
country are really bad , I thinks that this ones have to be harder because at
this way the drivers think more after driving drunk
3.As a student of eleventh grade, what suggestions or precautions can you take
into account and give to other students when doing these types of activities
(serenades) late at night? just be careful, try to wearing light clothes and don´t be on the street at night
I think it's a very sad situation... where both the man and the students were to blame for what happened because man shouldn’t have been driving drunk, but equally teens shouldn’t have to be in the middle of the street at early morning and drinking liquor. I think the laws of Costa Rica should be harder on these kind of situations for example increasing years in prison. The teens must learn to have fun in a healthy way and without alcohol and exposure to danger. Some suggestions would be that if you perform some activity like this should be at least one adult supervising, monitoring and making sure everything is in order. Also don’t perform these activities in dark or dangerous places that can become a stage for a tragedy. We have to enjoy in reasonable way.
ResponderEliminarI think the responsibility lies with the students because they did not have to lie on the road at that hour, and it is very unfair to blame the driver of the car was driving just because they were the ones who crossed.I believe that laws should be stronger and fair but only for those who are really guilty, because in the case that the driver was not guilty, the culprits were students.I think that students should take 5th as an example what happened in San Ramon and be more conscious in their serenades, to avoid further tragedy, because it is the last year and should enjoy healthy
ResponderEliminarIn my opinion this accident had everything to happend, the students were in the middle of the street at an unconfortable hour, and the driver of the car had the lights off so unfortunatly the accident was destined to happend. The drunk drivers should be punish harder because Costa Rican laws aren´t enough to stop the violence in the streets. As a student I know the lack of common sense in the teenagers so they just wanna drink alcohol to seem "cool" without thinking in the responsabilities they have. The best thing they can do is, take all the alcohol they want but with some precautions like avoid lonely and dark places at night, and be careful of their own actions to take care of their own lifes!
ResponderEliminar