Hit-and-run driver called on to accept responsibility

JAKARTA (JP): Kebayoran Lama Police in South Jakarta have called on the owner of a white Jimmy jeep to accept responsibility for the death of a father and son killed in a hit- and-run incident yesterday morning.

"The owner of the jeep, which was abandoned in traffic on Jl. Panjang Cipulir, has already been identified," said First Lieutenant Sugijo of the Kebayoran Lama police subprecinct.

He called on the owner to report to a nearby police station before police took action.

According to an eyewitness, Heru, the jeep was driven recklessly on the Kebayoran Lama flyover. Karman, 43, and his son Sadiman, 14, who were riding on a motorcycle, were killed instantly.

"I saw the car was speeding too close behind the victims' bike," he said.

The eyewitness said the speeding car failed to overtake and collided with the motorcycle, dragging the victims some distance before their bodies were flung into the flyover's fence.

"I then got off my motorbike and examined the victims, so I didn't have a chance to see the car's license plate," he said.

Police later found the car abandoned in the middle of traffic and traced the owner's name via the Jakarta Traffic Police Directorate data computer.

Officer Sugijo declined to reveal the car's license number, saying it would interfere with the investigation.

The bodies of the father and son, residents of Petukangan Utara in Pesanggrahan, were rushed to the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital for a postmortem.

Karman's wife, Sarijem, holding back tears, was shocked. "How can someone run into people like that and then just leave them?"

Karwan was an office boy at Bank BNI's branch office on Jl. Gatot Subroto. According to his wife, he had recently been treated for an acute heart attack and epilepsy.

"They were riding on a brand-new GL Pro motorbike headed for the bird market on Jl. Barito to check out the bird prices," she said, adding that her husband was a fanatic bird collector.

Sadiman, a second year student of the state-run SMP 110 junior high school, was the eldest son of the couple's three children. (04)