Posted at 11:30 a.m., Monday, August 27, 2001

Fatal H-1 crash may be linked to car race

By Brandon Masuoka and Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writers

Police have released the 18-year-old driver of a car involved in a deadly crash early yesterday morning but say they believe he was involved with other drivers trying to set up a race on the H-1 Freeway.

Nicholas Tudisco, a Saint Louis School graduate and former prep all-star baseball player, was arrested on suspicion of negligent homicide shortly after the accident and released at 7:45 p.m. last night, police said.

The accident killed Elizabeth Kekoa, a 58-year-old Holy Trinity teacher, and injured her 68-year-old husband, Wally, and 79-year-old mother.

Kekoa's mother, a back-seat passenger, remains in critical condition today at Queen's Medical Center. Kekoa's husband, the driver of the Aerostar, was in fair condition at Queen's.

Tudisco was speeding in his black 1999 Honda Prelude eastbound on H-1 when he lost control near the Sixth Avenue off-ramp, bounced off the median and swerved into Kekoa's 1994 Aerostar van, propelling it into a guardrail, police said.

Police said Tudisco was apparently traveling faster than the 50 mph speed limit.

A witness told police that a group of Hondas apparently was setting up for a race on the H-1 Freeway just minutes before the collision.

"One witness told us there were several Hondas blocking off several lanes of traffic eastbound on the H-1 Freeway," Traffic Sgt. David Talon said today. "Apparently they were conducting some sort of speed contest."

Police said racers typically block traffic by slowing down to hold back other motorists while two cars race ahead. That type of racing is usually performed at traffic lights where racers can block traffic on red lights, and not normally done on the freeways, police said.

"As far as a wide open freeway, I haven't noticed that before," said Lt. Todd Oba of the East Honolulu District. "I think it's more dangerous to slow down on the freeway, guys could get rear-ended."

Police said they were seeking additional witnesses to the collision. They have three witnesses so far, they said.

A witness said Tudisco's car was seen with the group of Hondas before and after the collision. The cars momentarily stopped near Tudisco's car, but fled, police said.

Elizabeth Kekoa was the third- and fourth-grade religion teacher at Holy Trinity School and director of religious education at Holy Trinity parish, said Monica Des Jarlais, Holy Trinity principal.

She was just as likely to be found answering phones at the parish and assisting in Holy Communion during Mass, the principal said.

"She was one of those people who worked until 10 or 11 at night at the parish," Des Jarlais said. "I was talking to Father Hal (Weidner) tonight and he was saying she did the work of five people."

Des Jarlais said Kekoa would have been headed toward Holy Trinity yesterday morning when she was killed, to prepare for 7 a.m. Mass.

Des Jarlais said she called the teachers at Holy Trinity and the parents of the third- and fourth-graders from Kekoa's class to tell them of the death.

Rodolf Leong, a longtime Holy Trinity parishioner, said all of the parish will miss Kekoa.

"She was a very charming person, very open. You could talk to her and she always listened," Leong said. "We are all going to miss her very much."

Tudisco was an Interscholastic League of Honolulu all-star catcher last season.

His former coach, Dean Sato, said the arrest came as a surprise.

"He's a very good kid," Sato said yesterday. "He just does everything right: he does his schoolwork, he's early for classes, he's early for practice and he's a good leader. It came as a shock."

Police today explained why they closed the H-1 Freeway for several hours following the crash. They said they needed time to investigate the scene of the collision, which stretched about a half-mile, and to collect evidence that was strewn all over the road. They also said that the collision happened across four lanes of traffic and evidence would have been destroyed if they opened the lanes prematurely.

Hours before the collision, police caught three modified Hondas racing westbound on Kalanianaole Highway at 10 p.m. on Saturday, police said.

Police said an officer noticed traffic backing up near Kalani High School and then saw four Hondas speed off. The officer radioed ahead and police caught three of the four Hondas speeding, police said.

Last week, East Honolulu police handed out 150 hazardous driving citations and 82 speeding citations, Oba said.

"That's about the norm," Oba said. "We have about 135 to 200 hazardous driving violations a week. As for speeding, we get a low of 60 to high of 150 a week. This is from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. on a weekly basis."

Oba said the amount of speeders declined for a little while after an 18-year-old Kalani High graduate was killed in a high-speed crash on the H-1 Freeway in Wai'alae on June 6, but he has noticed speeding has gradually increased.