2 ½ MILES, PHILIP GOLDSON HIGHWAY, Mon. Nov. 12, 2018– A traffic accident which occurred this morning around 11:00 took the life of 56-year-old taxi driver Arturo “Chiney Man” Requeña, Sr. , who was knocked down at Mile 2 1/2 on the Philip Goldson Highway as he was attempting to cross from one side of the highway to the other.
When police arrived on the scene they saw Requeña lying on the road suffering from bodily injuries. He was rushed to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, but he died shortly after while receiving treatment.
Requeña had just dropped off one of his family members at the Easy Inn Hotel on the highway before the incident occurred. He then left the hotel and drove in the direction of the Flag Monument, but stopped at the first roundabout near Belize Auto Traders and drove around it and back towards the hotel.
Requeña parked his car near the median on the highway, on the side of the hotel, in a direction going towards the Flag Monument. He then began to shout for the person he had just dropped off. He was attempting to cross from the median to the other side of the highway, when a car that was travelling east towards the Flag Monument hit him.
The driver of the other vehicle, whose name has not been released by police because he hasn’t been charged yet, is currently in police custody as investigations continue.
Requeña’s children, 13 in all, one of whom recently began working at Amandala, told us that, “Our dad was a man of many words. You can always hear him before you see him. Never can a person say they have caught his taxi and not be engaged in either a political argument or one of his famous riddles.”
“The last thing we, the family, will remember of him is that he made it right. He made peace with his children and gave his life to the Lord. His last day was spent worshipping the Lord, then at a party full of laughter with his kids,” they continued.
To their father, his children said, “We will miss you, ‘Chiney Man’.”
Amandala extends sincere condolences to the family of Arturo Requeña, Sr., whose children grew up right next to our offices.