A car that had been stolen on Monday night and in which three young people were traveling, was involved in a quadruple traffic accident at 7:40 a.m. this Tuesday on the Tahíche - Arrecife road, in front of the Lanzaroteña Bakery. The three occupants of the vehicle that had been stolen fled after the crash, one of them running across the field with a bleeding head, according to witnesses. The three were arrested by the Civil Guard several hours later, in Arrecife.
The car, an imported BMW 320, in the process of changing its license plate and therefore with the enabling red plate granted by the Traffic Department, had been stolen in the industrial area of Playa Honda, specifically from the park of the Faycán car rental company, which in the early hours of this morning had reported the theft of this and another car, of which nothing was known until mid-morning this Tuesday, according to police sources in the municipality of San Bartolomé.
The stolen BMW 320 had been seen moments before the accident making reckless maneuvers and overtaking on the César Manrique Foundation roundabout. When it reached the height of the bakery on the road to Tahíche, it grazed another BMW and a third car laterally, until it ended up hitting the fourth, a Toyota van.
Two of the occupants of the car that caused the accident, apparently including the driver, immediately fled at full speed, according to the account of the drivers of the other vehicles involved. The third occupant of the stolen BMW 320, with signs of blows to the head and a bleeding wound, remained shocked in the area for a few minutes. When an ambulance arrived at the scene, the young man began to move away discreetly from the scene. When the paramedics got out, they told him to come closer, but the young man continued to move away, walking as if he was shocked, until he noticed that he had already moved a prudent distance, and began to run across the field.
A paramedic and two other people, including the driver of one of the cars that had been hit, began to run after the young man, but could not catch up with him, as they lost track of him when he fled through the 100-house neighborhood area.
However, investigations carried out by the Civil Guard made it possible to arrest the alleged occupants of the stolen vehicle. One of them is a minor, 17 years old. Another was identified as H. H. M., 22 years old, and the third as A. A. C., 25 years old. All three are residents of Arrecife and are accused of alleged crimes against traffic safety and motor vehicle theft.
As a result of this quadruple traffic accident, a 25-year-old woman suffered a traumatic brain injury and abdominal pain, and a five-year-old girl suffered a frontal contusion, according to the Red Cross.
The accident caused long queues and tailbacks on that road towards Arrecife, and witnesses complained that the forces of order took more than half an hour to arrive, which worsened the traffic jam. The local police of Arrecife and Teguise clarified that this road is not their responsibility, but that of the Traffic Civil Guard, who ended up taking charge of the proceedings, although the local police also collaborated.
Rollover of an SUV
The second accident occurred at around 8:00 a.m., on the road that connects Arrecife with Costa Teguise, near the Los Mármoles junction. There, an SUV that was traveling towards the capital of Lanzarote was involved in a rollover. As a result, a 34-year-old woman suffered a possible cervical sprain. With her were traveling two girls, one 3 years old and the other one year old, both with mild traumatic brain injury.
According to the first versions of police sources, the SUV, a Galloper, would have braked suddenly when it encountered the long queue that usually forms in one of the "black spots" of the island in terms of traffic accidents, the Los Mármoles junction. As a result of this braking, it left the road and crashed into the irregular terrain of the ditch where the water circulates when it rains, and rolled over, leaving it with all four wheels up. The woman who was driving had to be rescued from the twisted iron of the SUV by Red Cross personnel.
Third accident
In the third traffic accident of the morning this Tuesday, four vehicles were involved in slight scrapes on the road that connects Arrecife and the south of the island, near the airport, in the direction of the capital of Lanzarote, although without major consequences. What the event did cause was considerable traffic jams.
