Three-year-old boy rescued from freeway onramp

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

A Wai'anae family is being credited with preventing a tragedy yesterday when they rescued a 3-year-old boy found near the on-ramp to the H-1 Freeway in Waikele.

Carmela Semana said she had just picked up her mother, Dolores Gabonia, in Waipahu and was about to take the Paiwa Street on-ramp to the freeway when she saw the unidentified boy playing near the road.

Semana said she didn't think anything was wrong until she realized the boy was alone.

Her son, Ben, and nephew, Kalei, began to shout at her to pull over so they could prevent the boy from being injured. Semana admitted that her first thought was not to get involved.

"I was like, 'They will think that we kidnapped him' because, forgive me, but I come from Wai'anae and we don't have that much of a good reputation," she said.

But as she turned, she saw the boy nearly struck by a truck. Semana stopped her van and the two boys ran to the toddler.

The boy was fine, but he was unable to tell his rescuers his name or parents' names. At that moment, a fire company from Waikele was returning to quarters and the family managed to flag down the engine.

Police were called and they began to walk toward the Hina Street area, hoping that the child's family was searching for him. At about 2:15, a man rounded the corner of Hina and said the child was his.

The boy was reunited with his parents, who took him home.

The boy apparently wandered about 150 yards from the family home.

Fire spokesman Capt. Richard Soo credited the woman and her family with preventing a serious accident.

"Can you imagine what would have happened if he had wandered on the freeway itself?" Soo said.