Three more lives lost on road to Waialua

Brian Dade: The lone survivor of the traffic accident was also the driver.	Anthony Alexander: A friend and classmate of the other three boys.	Andrew Delos Reyes: A champion wrestler at Mililani High School.	Jeremy Tolentino: Parents warned him often about drinking, driving.

By Brandon Masuoka and Tanya Bricking
Advertiser Staff Writers

As acres of pineapple end and Kaukonahua Road begins to twist on the way out to Waialua, roadside memorials appear like haunting billboards.

A white cross. A flower arrangement that has lost its color. A black skid leading to another reminder of heartbreak. They go by in a blur for passing motorists.

Broken glass, mirrors and pieces of one maroon car and one blue one are not yet cleared from the bend in the road where the latest fatality happened. But a roadside memorial already marks the site of Thursday night's tragedy, in which three teenagers were killed.

Carnations and red roses line a scraped guardrail like silent goodbyes, one after another, for Andrew Delos Reyes, 17, who was planning to go to college on a wrestling scholarship; his best friend, Jeremy Tolentino, 18, who had been working with his dad to fix up a 1967 Volkswagen van; and for Anthony Alexander, 17, their friend and classmate at Mililani High School.

The boys were joyriding with their friend Brian Dade, who had borrowed his grandmother's blue four-door 1999 Saturn. He told her he was going to the movies in Mililani, but by 11:30 p.m., he ended up about 15 minutes away at a turn in Kaukonahua Road, along a narrow, winding stretch that had claimed four lives since Feb. 21.

Traffic investigator Raymond Lurbe applies tape to the Saturn station wagon that crashed Thursday on Kaukonahua Road. The car belonged to the grandmother of Brian Dade, the driver and lone survivor of the crash. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

Police did not release the names of that carload, a 42-year-old man, 40-year-old woman and 11-year-old girl, who were listed in fair condition at the Queen's Medical Center. But Dade learned at the hospital that the names of his three friends would join the list of lost lives.

Dade, who wanted to join the Navy, is the lone survivor among those in his grandmother's car. He also is the focus of a negligent homicide investigation, left to explain to his grandmother why he left Mililani, and to police why they found Coors beer cans in the car and why he had been speeding past the 35-mph limit.

"Our family is truly sorry," said Phyllis Dade, Brian Dade's grandmother who lives with him in Mililani. "I'm still trying to grasp this. I'm having a difficult time."

Police said alcohol and speed were factors in the collision. Preliminary tests indicate all four boys in Dade's car may have consumed alcohol. None of the boys had been wearing a seat belt. The exact speed has not yet been determined.

Juan and Cynthia Tolentino had warned their son about drinking and driving.

"Many times," said Jeremy's older sister, Michelle, who tearfully hugged well-wishers yesterday at their Mililani home. The garage door stood open, showing the surfboards Jeremy shaped himself and the blue-and-white VW van Juan Tolentino called his son's "pride and joy."

"I guess every parent worries," Juan Tolentino said, his voice trailing off in a room filled with family photos.

"Boys will be boys. You can talk until you're blue in the face, but ... "

"You hear things like this all the time, but when it's one of your own ... "

He struggled to find the right words.

"I know there's supposed to be an explanation for all this," he said. "But I can't think of anything right now."

Cynthia Tolentino knew her son wouldn't have school yesterday, so she let him leave the house the night before, saying what she always said: "Come home safely. Not too late."

The scene was the same half a mile away at the Delos Reyes household.

Andrew Delos Reyes told his father, "Dad, don't worry, we're only going to stay in Mililani Town," Sam Delos Reyes remembers.

"I put a lot of trust in my kid," he said. "I didn't expect to get a call like I did last night."

Sam Delos Reyes, a former Nanakuli and Waipahu high school football coach, had always told his son sports would develop his character. Andrew, who had a competitive streak, was a wrestler who won the O'ahu Interscholastic Association championship in the 112-pound class and finished second in the Data House State Wrestling Championships this year.

This shattered everything.

Police told Sam Delos Reyes they found alcohol in the car. He said he talked to his two older sons later about making "good choices."

"I want to offer my deepest sympathy to the families," he said. "You don't prepare for something like this. You take for granted that they'll all come back."

Maj. William Gulledge, commander of the Honolulu Police Department's Wahiawa patrol district, has described the stretch of Kaukonahua Road between Wahiawa and Waialua as "a danger zone."

New guardrails and no-passing signs have done little to stop the accidents. Thirteen people have died on Kaukonahua Road since 1999, and five more have died in crashes on nearby Wilikina Drive.

On Thursday night, before the accident, officers in the area cited one driver for going 91 mph in a 45-mph zone, Lt. Michael B. Thomas said. Earlier this week, officers went out to the area and issued numerous speeding tickets and made one arrest for drunken driving.

They returned yesterday with radar guns to catch other speeders.

Thomas, of the Wahiawa patrol district, stressed the need for responsible driving habits.

"We're out there," he said. "We will increase our presence out there in the direction of enforcement toward DUI, speeding and hazardous moving violations."

Police also will meet with city officials to see whether more traffic signs would help. They also plan to increase traffic education for military in the area and work with neighborhood boards to reduce teenage drinking, driving and speeding, Thomas said.

Phyllis Dade said the lessons for her grandson are coming in sharp blows.

"Physically, he might be in a lot of pain," she said. "Mentally, I don't know how OK he will be. I feel for the families. It's just senseless. I can't say anything else."

The parents of the boys who died don't have much to say about criminal charges Brian Dade might face when the police investigation ends.

Their focus now is on their own sons.

"We try to instill the wrongs and the rights in our children," Sam Delos Reyes said. "This could be a lesson to everyone. We all love our kids. We all feel sadness. I'm going to miss him."