Big Island police believe an elderly Holualoa man suffered a medical condition today that caused him to crash a tractor-trailer he was driving on a highway in the Kona District.

A coroner's inquest has been ordered into the death of Takeo Nagamine, 75, and police will await autopsy findings before classifying the case as a traffic fatality, said Traffic Enforcement Unit supervisor of investigations Sgt. Christopher D. Gali.

Nagamine crashed a 1992 Kenworth tractor-trailer on Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway, 333 feet north of the 94-mile marker in the Kona District, prior to 11:30 a.m. The vehicle went off the roadway and overturned, ejecting its driver, who was not wearing a seatbelt.

The injured man was taken by Fire Rescue personnel to Kona Community Hospital, where he died at 12:32 p.m.

Police say speed or alcohol are not apparent factors.