Hagatna crash involves GPD official

by Nick Delgado

Guam - It was a busy early Wednesday morning for Guam Police Highway Patrol officers after responding to a serious car crash involving one of their own. Fortunately, no one was badly injured. And the man whose car collided with the GPD official was arrested for drunk driving.  

26-year-old Albert Thomas Manibusan, Jr. was placed behind bars after he crashed his car into a 2010 Police Interceptor. GPD spokesperson Sergeant Mike Aguon says the police officer involved was patrolling the southbound lane of Marine Corps Drive near the Bank of Hawaii just after 1 o'clock this morning, when he was hit. Aguon detailed, "He was struck from the rear by a 2003 PT Cruiser and the (GPD) vehicle is totally lost. He collided with the vehicle and spun around and struck a tree in the median lane. The PT Cruiser went on to turn to its side."  

Witnesses say the PT Cruiser sped through the Chief Kapua intersection, slamming into the cop car. After colliding with the officer, Manibusan's vehicle flipped several times before landing several hundred feet away in front of the Chamorro Village.

Aguon said they didn't know how fast he was going but noted, "He refused to take a breath test at the time, but they did arrest him for DUI because the smell of alcohol emitting from his breath."

Southbound traffic was detoured through the Paseo Stadium for several hours, as police investigated the crash scene. The police officer and Manibusan were both treated at the Guam Memorial Hospital for minor injuries.

Sergeant Aguon says the preliminary investigation shows there is no reason to further investigate the officer involved. "The only time an investigation will be done internally is if the officer was found in violation; he was not found in violation so therefore there will be no internal investigation based on that."

As for Manibusan, he remains behind bars facing charges of driving under the influence with injuries and reckless driving with injuries. While the officer was not at fault for this crash, Aguon notes there are at least eleven other crashes involving police vehicles this year alone.