Assistant Commissioner of Police Eulalio Cantun, the fourth in charge of the Police Department, died in an accident on the Northern Highway on Friday night. At 6:00 on Friday evening, 30-year-old Cantun was driving from Orange Walk and heading to his residence in Belmopan when he collided with a bus. The accident occurred on a straight stretch of highway between miles 33 and 34. At this point it is not known what caused Cantun to veer into the lane of an oncoming, Chell's bus which was heading north. Cantun was driving a police patrol car, and the impact was massive, killing him immediately. No one on the bus suffered serious injury.
After earning a law degree and passing the Bar, Cantun was made the youngest Assistant Commissioner of Police ever at the age of 28. With his death now just two years later, he becomes the most senior officer ever to die while still with the department. His funeral was held yesterday in his home village of Concepcion in the Corozal District. It was held at the village community center and school where hundreds of funeral goers filled the center, and spilled out into the compound. 7NEWS was there to see the procession and burial with full honors.
And while he was buried yesterday, on Friday night, the officer who had to respond to the call that a senior officer was dead on the road was Sergeant Chris Noble. He told us what he found. We note that police refused to uncover Cantun's car to show us how extensively damaged it had been.
Sgt. Chris Noble, Ladyville Police
"After 6 pm on Friday we received information that there was a traffic accident on the highway. Subsequent to the information received, we visited an area between miles 33 and 34 on the Northern Highway and we saw a bus that was extensively damaged and a police vehicle. We later identified the driver of the police vehicle and it was on impact apparently that he died. The driver of the bus and passengers, to our knowledge, escaped unhurt. The information
coming out of the passengers of the bus was that the bus was traveling towards Orange Walk and the car was traveling in the opposite direction. The bus was extensively damaged on the front, I believe one of the wheels came off, and other damage."
Alfonso Noble,
What kind of damage the car sustain?
Sgt. Chris Noble,
"The car is a total write-off. It was extensively damaged and there is no repairing to it. The driver of the police car was obviously Assistant Commissioner of Police Eulalio Cantun and he was laid to rest yesterday."
