Two traffic accidents leave three dead on Maui

By Christie Wilson
Advertiser Neighbor Islands Editor

Three people died in two separate traffic accidents Sunday on Maui, including one in which a car plunged over a cliff near Kahakuloa.

A Napili man and a 3-year-old boy were killed when a Wailuku-bound Buick sedan went off Kahekili Highway at Makamaka'ole Gulch and plummeted several hundred feet to the rocks below.

The victims were identified as Samuel Shubin, 35, and Dalton Boyer, whose mother, Elizabeth Wheeler, 28, of Florida, suffered a fractured pelvis and was flown to The Queen's Medical Center.

Lt. Charles Hirata of the Maui Police Department's Traffic Section said investigators were uncertain yesterday when or how the accident occurred or who was driving.

A passing motorist called police at 4:52 p.m. after hearing the woman's cries, Hirata said.

Wheeler apparently jumped or was ejected from the car and was found about 40 feet below the edge of the winding highway, which narrows to a single lane at many points and has few guardrails.

Shubin's body was found about 200 feet below the road, and was recovered Sunday.

The child was found inside the Buick, still strapped into a booster seat. His body was recovered yesterday morning.

A Maui Fire Department helicopter assisted in the recovery efforts.

Sunday night, a 77-year-old Wailea man was killed and his 82-year-old wife injured in a collision involving a Lexus IS 300 and a cane-haul truck on Haleakala Highway, below Hali'imaile.

Police said a sedan operated by Edward L. Anthony was headed downhill about 8:45 p.m. when he failed to stop for a flag man and flashing red lights warning motorists that a Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. truck was crossing the highway.

The Lexus slammed into the side of the cane-hauler and Anthony was killed. His wife was taken to Maui Memorial Medical Center, where she was in stable condition yesterday.

There have been 23 traffic fatalities in Maui County so far this year, compared with 19 at this time last year.