It’s not what you know

To Sen. Pete Reyes,

You are very right, senator Reyes; there are a lot of “special treatment” going around. The reason that Mr. Callaghan left the scene of an accident is because he knows he can get away with it. You are assuming that he was DUI. Well 98 percent of the island is assuming that too, including me. The 2 percent left are the Governor and DPS. Mr. Callaghan said that he did nothing wrong, well let me educate him a little bit.

Section 6101 (e) of the CNMI Code says, “The operators of any vehicle involved in all accident with any vehicle or real or personal property that is unattended, shall immediately stop and then and there either locate and notify the operator of the unattended vehicle or the owner or custodian of the unattended property giving the name and address of the operator and the owner of the vehicle involved in the accident with the unattended vehicle or property.

“If the operator, owner or custodian can not be found, then the operator shall leave in a conspicuous place in or upon the damaged unattended vehicle or property, a written notice giving the name and address of the operator and owner involved in the accident and a brief statement of the circumstances and in addition shall within 24 hours forward to the bureau a similar notice, regardless of the amount of damage done to the unattended vehicle or property.”

Here is some more.

Section 6101 (g) under the CNMI Code says, “Any person violating a provision of this section (i.e., Section 6101(e)) by failing to stop after being involved in an accident resulting in damage to property shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof, be punishable by imprisonment for not more than six month or by fine of not more of $500.00 or both.”

Under this section he is busted, but wait Mr. Senator I’m not done yet.

“Section 6104 says, “The director (that means DPS) shall suspend the license, permit or nonresident operating privileges of any person failing to report an accident as provided in this division. Until the report has been filed, the director (DPS) may extend that suspension not to exceed 30 days.”

Well as you see Mr. Senator, he can get his license suspended, but I know and you know that that is not going to happen.

Oh! I almost forgot! Mr. Callaghan said that “DPS is not yet finished investigating the May 3 incident.”

Please read Section 6105(a) Police Report.

Every department offices who investigate a vehicle accident as to which a report is required by this division or who otherwise prepare a written report as a result of an investigation either at the time of and at the scene of the accident or thereafter by interviewing the participants or witnesses, shall forward a written report of the accident to the bureau within 10 days of the accident.

b) Such written report and the information contained in them are not privileged or confidential.

Well, May 3 to May 20 is more than 10 days, so is DPS doing their job? It should be ready for all the CNMI citizens to read.

Mr. Senator, please keep writing so I can be informed. It’s true what you said. If this happen to you or me or any citizen, this matter would be handled differently. I think we should stop the corruption, and it has to start from the top.

Henry Huet
DanDan