By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer
Alerted that police were looking for a damaged van involved in a fatal hit-and-run collision, Elmar Ranon’s suspicion about the vehicle brought to his auto repair shop Thursday heightened when he noticed the driver’s-side airbag had been deployed.
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| Police investigators Myles Yoshimoto, left, and Val Chun measure a dent on a van believed involved in accident.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser |
"I’ve seen vehicles hit walls and other vehicles where the airbags didn’t deploy," said Ranon, owner of El’s Autobody and Paint at 2702 Waiwai Loop near the airport. "In my mind, airbags only deploy on solid impact that is sudden and the vehicle comes to a halt."
Ranon notified police about the customized Ford Econoline van with heavy front-end damage at his shop.
"I just wanted to make sure," Ranon said. "I was praying that it wasn’t, but I’m glad now that I did it."
Police seized the vehicle at 5:30 p.m. Thursday. "We believe it’s the vehicle," said Myles Yoshimoto, a police vehicular homicide investigator.
Finding the van was the major break for police.
The registered owner said he didn’t have the van at 12:45 a.m. Wednesday when Theron Keoki Nicodemus, 21, was struck from behind on Fort Weaver Road while bicycling home.
But a 32-year-old ‘Ewa Beach man employed by the van’s owner went to the Main Police Station yesterday and, after talking to investigators, was booked for investigation of negligent homicide and failure to render aid. He was released without charges pending further investigation.
Nicodemus died at 1:40 a.m. Thursday at the Queen’s Medical Center without regaining consciousness. Honoring his request to be an organ donor, his family made Nicodemus’ heart, liver and kidneys available.
A Hawai‘i girl received his liver, while the heart and kidneys were given to people on the Mainland, family friend Cynthia Medina said.
The family, however, decided to keep his eyes. "His eyes were what we saw," Medina said. "Everything else was inside his body. It was just too hard to do."
There is some relief to the grieving, Medina said. "Getting the van and the suspect makes it easier on the family," she said.
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