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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Woman’s death off Laie Point ruled a suicide


David Waite
Advertiser Staff Writer

The city Department of the Medical Examiner has identified the woman who died yesterday after her car plunged into the ocean off Laie Point as Sherry Ann Wood, 55, of no local address.

Her death has been listed as a suicide and the cause of death was determined to be saltwater drowning.
Emergency responders were sent to the point after receiving reports that a white car went over a cliff about 4 p.m., fell about 25 feet, landed upside down in the ocean and sank in about 15 feet of water.
Firefighters from Kahuku fire station scaled down the cliff and removed Wood from the driver's compartment.
She was freed within 15 minutes after firefighters arrived on scene, said fire Capt. Terry Seelig.
Ocean Safety officers showed up on jet-powered water craft with a sled, on which they carried Wood, who was unresponsive, from the choppy waters to an easier access point on the beach about a half mile away.
Emergency Services spokesman Bryan Cheplic said city paramedics treated and transported Wood in critical condition to a nearby hospital, “and subsequently she was pronounced dead shortly thereafter."