Family pursues justice in traffic fatality
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| Lorrie-Ann Wiley's husband, David, and daughter Kayla have planted a tree near Olomana Golf Links to remember the woman killed in a head-on collision a year ago.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser |
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer
A year after Lorrie-Ann Wiley was killed in a head-on crash in Waimanalo by a suspected drunken driver, her family has been told by police that the case was going to be dropped because of a lack of evidence.
Wiley's husband, David, said police told him last week they have no proof that the man they believe was driving the car that killed his wife on Jan. 2, 2001, was actually behind the wheel.
Complicating what the family had thought was a straightforward case are two key developments:
Wiley family photograph
• The man's car, which could have provided the physical evidence that prosecutors need, was never taken into custody by police. It was later destroyed.
No one has been held responsible for Lorrie-Ann Wiley's death, and her family is appealing to officials to keep the investigation open.
• In the minutes after the accident, the man either crawled from the wreckage or was helped out of the car, complicating the question of whether he was actually driving. He was out of the car by the time police officers and ambulance workers arrived.
Experts in the handling of such cases say the failure by police to impound the car is unusual when there is a death.
"It sounds like something fell through the cracks, especially if there's a fatality," said attorney Pamela Tamashiro, who prosecuted the well-known 1988 drunken driving case in which Bucky Lake was convicted of plowing head-on into a van at Makapu'u, killing five people.
"That's like the weapon," Tamashiro said. "I'm sure they're not alleging that he used his car as a weapon but it is the instrument that caused the death."
Answers have been hard to come by in what is still an active investigation. These questions still loom large:
• Why didn't police take the car into custody? What happened to it after the accident and who had it destroyed?
• How did the man get out of the car? Wiley believes the man was helped by a passer-by who has yet to come forward.
• Who called police and ambulance to the scene? Have Emergency Medical Services workers been interviewed about what they found at the scene?
Police are reluctant to discuss the case in detail because it is still under investigation.
After an appeal from Wiley, the city prosecutor's office on Monday issued a statement saying it would reopen the investigation to "determine if there is sufficient evidence to support the criminal charges." Yesterday, Prosecutor Peter Carlisle said that he could not answer questions about the case but that his office was actively pursuing it.
Memorial: The Wiley family plans a memorial service from noon to 5 p.m. Jan. 20 at a Bellows Air Force Station pavilion.
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To help police: Call the traffic division at 529-3499.
"We're evaluating and figuring out what's the right thing to do with these facts and circumstances and are there more facts and circumstances that will help us," he said.
Meanwhile, David Wiley said he is frustrated and mystified by the course of the investigation.
"How can you not place this guy behind the wheel?" Wiley asked.
No one has been arrested or charged in the accident. The man suspected of driving the car could not be reached for comment.
Sam King Jr., an attorney who represented the man in a previous case, declined to comment. He said his only recent contact with the man was to advise him to say nothing about a civil case involving the accident.
At about 5:25 a.m. Jan. 2, 2001, Lorrie-Ann Wiley, 32, was headed to work when a Chrysler crossed the center line on Kalaniana'ole Highway and smashed into Wiley's Honda Civic at the Olomana Golf Links outside Waimanalo.
Police believe that the Chrysler was driven by a man who was not the owner of the car. The Chrysler was registered to someone else, who claimed to have sold it to one of the driver's relatives, who hadn't registered it yet, according to police.
Both Wiley and the man were alone in the vehicles they were driving, police have said, and both were critically injured.
In the next few minutes, the driver of the Chrysler either was pulled from his car by someone or got out by himself before police or the ambulance arrived, police said.
The man was taken to Castle Medical Center, where his blood alcohol content tested above the legal limit, police have said. He refused to talk to police and he was released from the hospital after four days.
Police say it is not unusual for a driver to be taken from a car involved in an accident before officers arrive. Then it's up to police to find witnesses who saw the driver behind the wheel, said Capt. Bryan Wauke, head of Honolulu Police Department's traffic division.
"It may seem obvious (who the driver is) but when you go to court, you have to prove to the judge and jury that the person was the actual driver," said Wauke, who was unfamiliar with the evidence of the Wiley case.
Tamashiro said placing the driver behind the wheel is critical to a prosecution.
"If they can't place anybody behind the wheel, that's a major problem," said Tamashiro, who is now in private practice. "That's one of the main requirements, that this defendant or the person you accuse was in fact the driver of the vehicle."
Without an eyewitness, the automobile could have proved to be a critical piece of evidence, she said.
"You would think the cops would have taken it immediately into custody," she said. "It seems very unusual with serious injuries and a death at the scene."
Sgt. William Watkins, supervising officer in the investigation, said police don't always keep an automobile involved in a fatal accident. Watkins said that at the time, the investigating officer had no doubt about who was driving the car, but the prosecutor's office decided it wanted more evidence.
"(Keeping the car) is not an automatic thing," said Watkins.
The officer in charge of the investigation makes that decision, he said. The officer in charge of the Wiley investigation has since been reassigned to another division, Watkins said.
While there are no set rules for when a car is kept, generally police will hold a vehicle that is involved in an accident where serious charges may result. If a driver claims that the car had mechanical failure, police would also impound the car for an inspection, he said.
Police say the car involved in the Wiley accident was junked after the accident and destroyed about a month later.
But Maj. Karl Godsey, acting assistant chief, said it is HPD policy to keep evidence until a case is disposed of or taken to court, including any appeals that might be made. Although the department has limited space, it does keep evidence from all homicides and has records dating to 1932.
Without the car, police must rely on eyewitnesses. Several witnesses have given statements, including the ambulance crew, but Wiley believes that the police don't have a statement from the person who may have pulled the driver from the car.
Wiley filed a civil lawsuit last year against the alleged driver of the car. The suit also claims that Venus Nite Club and Pachinko Karaoke in Honolulu were partly responsible for the accident because they allegedly served alcohol to the man, who is younger than 21, the legal drinking age.
Despite a year's passage, the family still suffers emotionally from Lorrie-Ann Wiley's death. Her daughter, Kayla, 6, is doing well but gets regular counseling.
Lorenza Macanas, Lorrie-Ann Wiley's mother, said she cries whenever someone mentions her daughter's name. High blood pressure and other medical problems have haunted her since the death, she said.
Macanas helps care for Kayla.
"I have to be strong because of Kayla," Macanas said.
Rudy Macanas, Lorrie-Ann's brother, said it's unsettling to see the man accused of killing his sister around town.
Like Lorrie-Ann Wiley, the man is from Waimanalo.
Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.
