Wai'anae crash kills 2, injures 1
By Loren Moreno
Advertiser Staff Writer
Two 19-year-old women were killed early yesterday and a 16-year-old boy was in critical condition after their car crashed into a utility pole along Pa'akea Road in Wai'anae.
The driver of the car was identified as Jocelyn Ka'aihui of Waipahu. The other woman and the boy were not identified.
The accident occurred just before 6 a.m. on Pa'akea Road, at the intersection with 'Apana Road, police said. Traveling at high speed, the car went airborne after it came over a rise in the road, police said. The car went out of control and crashed into a curb. The car then flipped on its left side, slid into a street sign post, a fence and a utility pole, and the pole was sheared in half.
Both the driver and the woman passenger in the front seat were crushed when the utility pole fell on the car. The pole also knocked down an adjacent pole on the other side of the street.
The boy in the back seat was partially ejected from the car, police said. He suffered a large gash to his chest and internal injuries.
When emergency medical personnel arrived, the 16-year-old was conscious and was able to give his name and age, police said. He soon lost consciousness and was taken to The Queen's Medical Center in critical condition, according to EMS personnel.
The white 2004 Nissan Maxima involved in the accident was a rental car from Enterprise Rent-A-Car on Sand Island, police said.
Pa'akea Road is an expansive, relatively straight road with numerous dips. Hawaiian Electric Co. crews in Wai'anae yesterday said they have replaced many downed poles on the road because of traffic accidents.
Crews spent yesterday repairing the two poles downed by the early morning accident. Pa'akea Road was partially closed for most of the day.
Family members were gathered at Ka'aihui's home in Waipahu yesterday evening but said through their pastor that they did not want to talk about the accident and asked that the news media leave them alone. The pastor spoke briefly to a reporter and said he was providing counseling to the grieving family.
Neighbors said they did not hear the crash because they live too far from the road.
Yesterday's accident brought the O'ahu traffic death toll for the weekend to three. On Friday night, Kekoa K. Keo, 26, of Waimanalo, was killed in a one-car crash on the H-3 Freeway between the Likelike and Kamehameha offramps, eastbound.
Reach Loren Moreno at lmoreno@honoluluadvertiser.com.