Soldier in fatal crash passed sobriety test

By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer

A 23-year-old man arrested on suspicion of drunken driving and manslaughter in connection with a fatal Sept. 27 collision passed his blood-alcohol breath test and will have his driver's license returned, a state official said.

Ronald Sakata, chief adjudicator for the state Judiciary's Administrative Driver's License Revocation Office, said yesterday that since Erik W. Wallace had a blood-alcohol level under the 0.08 legal limit, his office no longer has jurisdiction over the case. Sakata refused to disclose Wallace's test results or when the test was taken.

Wallace, assigned to the 25th Infantry Division (Light) at Schofield Barracks, was driving one of two cars involved in an early morning collision at the intersection of Ala Moana and Atkinson Drive that killed Army Staff Sgt. James J. Giannos, 26, of Ixonia, Wis., and injured two other Schofield soldiers, according to police.

Wallace was released after his arrest without being charged pending further investigation.

There have been no other arrests.

The case is being investigated as manslaughter, rather than negligent homicide, because police suspect the two cars were racing, said Traffic Lt. Bennett Martin.

Giannos' death was the latest to heighten concerns about the dangers of racing and speeding on O'ahu roads. It came within 32 days of an H-1 Freeway collision near the Sixth Avenue off-ramp in Kaimuki that killed Elizabeth "Liz" Kekoa, a passenger in a van struck by a car police said was racing.

Advertiser staff writer Rod Ohira contributed to this report.