Hit and run cyclist death stirs outcry
MORE RALLIES are planned to protest the hit and run death of Panamanian triatholon and cycling athelete Monica Isabel Licona on Sunday September 20.
The president of the Cyclists on the streets of Panama announced that a white bicycle will be installed at 7pm on Tuesday October 22 at 7 pm marking the site of her death near the Miramar Hotel, and a vigil will be held on Wednesday, where Sunday night over a thousand people gathered to honor her
The funeral mass will be held at the Church of Guadalupe on Wednesday,
The athlete was riding her bike at 5.45 am on Sunday to join a group that to cycle in Chilibre, when she was hit by a white Kia sedan. Fifteen minutes later she was pronounced dead at the National Hospital.
The car sedan was found abandoned in Avenida Mexico, Authorities announced on Monday afternoon that two suspects have been detained.
Licona Zepeda was considered one of the pioneers of women’s cycling in Panama.
As a teenager she was part of the Panamanian team that went to the PanAmerican games in Medillin, Colombia, eight years ago.
Two years later she competed in the Women’s cycling Tour of Venezuela; in 2011 she took part in the Central American and Caribbean Games in Puerto Rico, and in 2010 and 2013s he represented Panama in the Central American Games. Whenshe was 19 years old, she won the Xtreme Triathlon in Coronado.
Currently, she was participating in the Women’s Tour of Panama, which ends this month, and training for the Cycling Tour of Panama, which starts in October.
Her death has caused widespread outrage among athletes and citizens demanding “justice” and respect for cyclists and pedestrians.
Manuel Dominguez, Secretary of State for Communication, said that agents of the Institutional Protection Service (SPI) in Parque Urracá called an ambulance and the Traffic Operations Division of the National Police to locate the fleeing vehicle.
The victim’s sister, who was part of the group in the bike ride, suffered minor injuries.
Official sources told La Prensa that a man who was driving the white vehicle and a woman got out of the car after it was abandoned on the side of street and boarded a taxi. V ideo surveillance cameras from the accident and the road where the vehicle was abandoned are being analyzed.
Dismay
Gerardo Trunks, t 56 years died after being hit by a vehicle driver also fled in October, 2012.
Ironically the accident happened on a Sunday when from 6:00 am. to noon there is a road cycling program initiated by the by the Municipality of Panama, to encourage citizens to take up the sport. Mayor Jose Blandon called on drivers to respect cyclists and motorcyclists. “The street is not the monopoly of cars.Bikers and motorcyclists are entitled to move. At the wheel, keep respect for others,” He said in a Tweet.
