Man lands in hospital after he grabs, latches on to rear wheel of moving garbage truck

This is the garbage truck that ran over a man who grabbed and held on to the rear tire of the moving truck in an intersection in Barangay Tejero, Cebu City on September 30. | Alven Marie Timtim

CEBU CITY, Philippines — An unidentified man is in critical condition after he was run over by a 10-wheeler garbage truck along M.J. Cuenco Avenue corner T. Padilla Street, Barangay Tejero, Cebu City, at 7:45 Monday morning, September 30, 2019.

Police Staff Sergeant Edgar Baton, investigator of Waterfront Police Station of the Cebu City Police Office, said that as of 11 a.m., the attending physician of a Cebu City Medical Center had been constantly monitoring the condition of the victim, whose lower part of the body was run over by the rear tire of the garbage truck.

According to investigation, Baton said that Rogelio Roca, garbage truck driver of Jomara Konstrukt Inc., was waiting for the go signal in an intersection when a man suddenly appeared on the right side of the truck.

Baton said that one of the four garbage collectors on board the truck warned the man to stay out of the truck’s way as it was dangerous.

When the the traffic light turned green, Roco started to maneuver the truck forward but the man tried to jump in front of the truck.

Roco of Barangay Das Uno, Toledo City swerved to the left to avoid running over the man, but according to witnesses, the man, instead of moving away from the truck to avoid getting ran over, grabbed the rear tire of the truck and latched on to it.

When Roco managed to stop the truck a few meters away and checked on the man, he found him bloodied and unconscious as part of the rear tire of the truck had run over a part of his body.

Baton said they were asking residents near the area of the incident if they could identify the victim, but no one in the area knew who the victim was.

Baton also said that they were also trying to find out why the man did what he did.

Meanwhile, Baton said Roco, the truck driver, was detained at the Waterfront Police Station detention cell pending the filing of reckless imprudence resulting to physical injury case.

Police Major Joemar Pomarejos, Waterfront Police Station chief, also said that a representative of the Jomara Konstrukt Inc. assured him that the company would shoulder the hospital expenses of the victim and would help their driver.

Jomara Konstrukt Inc. is the private firm that won the contract to collect and haul garbage in Cebu City.