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Los testigos fueron a la policía y declararon que el asesino había huido.

Los testigos fueron a la policía y declararon que el asesino había huido.
The witnesses went to the police and stated that the murderer had fled.
From Lesson 189:Reported speech for the past (había...)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about Los testigos fueron a la policía y declararon que el asesino había huido.

Why is había huido used here instead of the simple past?
The verbs fueron and declararon set the reporting frame in the past. When reporting what someone said in the past, actions that happened before their statement shift back another step in time. The witnesses' original direct quote was likely El asesino huyó (The murderer fled) or ha huido (has fled). Because the reporting verb is in the past, those earlier actions change to the past perfect había huido (had fled).
Why doesn't the past participle huido have an accent mark on the 'i'?
The verb huir ends in '-ir', so its past participle takes the '-ido' ending. Unlike verbs like leer that need an accent mark to separate the vowels (leído), the 'u' and 'i' in huido form a natural single syllable called a diphthong. Because the word ends in a vowel and the vocal stress naturally falls on the second-to-last syllable, no written accent is needed.
Is fueron a la policía the standard way to say they went to the police?
Yes! Just like in English, you can refer to the police as an institution or a collective group by saying you went to la policía. If you specifically wanted to mention the physical building they walked into, you could also say they went to the police station (la comisaría or la estación de policía).
Could I use the imperfect declaraban instead of the preterite declararon here?
Not in this specific sequence of events. The witnesses going to the police (fueron) and making their statement (declararon) are treated as completed, step-by-step actions in a chain. The preterite is exactly what you need for completed events that move a story forward.

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