Woman drives motorcycle into IronMan Davao triathlon, gets arrested

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – This year’s IronMan Davao Triathlon last August 11 saw a woman breaking into the cycling lane on a motorcycle which she livestreamed and was later apprehended.

The report from the Toril Police Station identified the woman as Kriszelle Cabo, age 28, a resident of Toril. The report said Cabo broke into the cycling lane designated for the athletes at GTH Crossing in Barangay Toril Poblacion.

Roads where the triathletes competed in cycling and running were closed from vehicles and persons by police security for the safety of both participants and the public.

A video posted on Facebook showed Cabo driving on the side of the cycling lane wheezing past some cycling athletes and police officers who motioned towards her to stop. The video showed she drove for nearly three minutes before a police officer was able to seize control of her bike in Darong, Santa Cruz, Davao del Sur.

Cabo posted two livestream videos of her stunt which showed her greeting police officers, while giggling at her own antic and repeatedly saying “GTA ni! GTA ni bai (This is GTA!)” referring to the American online video game Grand Theft Auto. In her video, she was stopped by the police officer after driving for 12 minutes.

Cabo even addressed viewers in her livestream explaining her stunt. “I’m just trying to prove that we are in a matrix and life is just a game, and fear is just an illusion, that’s it,” she said.

She even filmed her conversation with police officers who explained that she was facing arrest for disobeying persons of authority who repeatedly attempted to stop her.   

While onboard the police patrol car where she was brought to the Toril Police Station for detention, Cabo said this was her first time to be arrested and muttered this was “mission completed”.  

Her video drew 12,000 reactions as of August 12 including 5,700 laughing emojis and 1,400 angry emojis and 5,300 comments.

Cabo will be charged with violation of Article 151 of the Revised Penal Code for disobedience to police officers. She will also be charged for violating traffic rules such as unsafe driving, counterflow, driving without a license, driving without wearing a helmet, and failure to present her motorcycle’s registration papers, this according to the news release of Toril Police Station

Despite the stunt pulled by Cabo, the Davao City Police Office said there were no accidents involving the triathletes and in general, the whole triathlon was “generally peaceful with no untoward incidents”.

On Monday, radio station DXDC aired a live Facebook interview where Cabo said she pulled her stunt because she wanted to talk to city mayor Sebastian Duterte to discuss her advocacies and also to confront her fears and anxiety.

Her antics drew criticisms from netizens and local bloggers.

One such criticism comes from Roweno Caballes, known as Boy Isog Sarge, who said: “Ang pagpangandam sa maong event dili lalim na tahas hilabina sa hisgutanang safety sa mga partisepante. Ang makuting paningkamot sa mga security personnel na gideploy sa maong aktibidad aron masigurong luwas ang mga niapil ug ang mga manan-aw dili lalim na trabaho. (The preparations for this event are not easy tasks, especially for the safety of the participants.  There is much effort made by security personnel deployed in this activity to ensure the safety of the participants and spectators and that’s hard work)”.

In last year’s IronMan Davao triathlon, a spectator was hospitalized after sneaking into the cycling lane in Tagum City where he collided with a cyclist. (davaotoday.com)