Santo Domingo — Among the events, Osvaldo Silverio, a motorcycle taxi driver, was shot dead by another of his colleagues after a conflict between the two.
Amid tensions between motorcycle riders and authorities due to reckless driving and involvement in criminal incidents by most of them, motorcyclists were involved in several violent incidents yesterday in Greater Santo Domingo.
One of them was the one that cost the life of Osvaldo Silverio, a motorcycle taxi driver from the La Barquita sector of Sabana Perdida, who died after being shot several times by Ramón Elías Ureña Hernández, alias Mon Elías, another motorcyclist; supposedly, after a dispute that occurred in previous days.
According to a video that was shared on social media, the victim was walking through the area belonging to Santo Domingo Norte, with his helmet on, when “Mon Elías” intercepted him on the streets, aboard his motorcycle, and after a brief exchange of words, shot him twice.
After carrying out the attack, Elias fled. According to preliminary reports, the two had argued a few days earlier over a passenger at the bus stop where they worked.
Ramón Elías Ureña Hernández, alias Mon Elías, National Police
The National Police are investigating the circumstances that led to the incident and have launched a search for Ureña Hernández.
Mob attacks TRAE driver
In the El Café sector of Herrera, in Santo Domingo Oeste, a mob of motorcycle taxi drivers from the area injured a driver of the National Student Transportation System (TRAE).
The problem reportedly arose after a minor collision with a motorcycle, which, according to various accounts, was traveling in the wrong lane with two young girls as passengers. The victim, Henry González, was transporting students to the Rafaela Santaella school. Following the incident, several motorcycle taxi drivers attacked the driver, causing injuries to his face, accompanied by screams of desperation and fear from the students inside the school bus.
The driver was treated by medical personnel; his face had two bandages. He explained that he hadn’t noticed the motorcyclists approaching.
“I had my seatbelt on and I didn’t even know they were coming,” he said.
Furthermore, a witness indicated that the attackers were aware that there were minors inside the school transportation, as several people warned them, but their response to this information was ignorant.
Arrested
The National Police then arrested all the motorcyclists involved in the incident and later received the voluntary surrender of Gregory González, alias Negro Malo, who caused the incident.
According to preliminary investigations, González (Negro Malo) is accused of participating in the physical assault against driver Henry González, of TRAE, who was transporting students to educational centers in the area at the time of the incident.
«I have to say that there was never a conflict. I did overshoot, yes, because I was with a girl and a boy, and he (the TRAE driver) is the older one and he never thought about the fact that I’m the younger one and he has to wait for me to pass,» the man said alongside National Police spokesperson Diego Pesqueira.
Regarding the injuries the bus driver sustained to his face, the motorcycle taxi driver said that the driver was injured «because I was with two children and he didn’t have the consideration to brake, because he is the older one.»
They will present a coercive measure
The Santo Domingo West Prosecutor’s Office reported that it will request preventive detention, as a coercive measure, against those involved in the attack against the school bus driver.
Authorities indicated that the request, which will be submitted in the coming hours, is because this type of behavior «should not be overlooked» and that an appropriate measure should be taken.
