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The Honolulu Advertiser

Updated at 2:08 p.m., Tuesday, March 5, 2002

Three killed, one hospitalized in traffic accidents

By Vicki Viotti
and Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writers

Three people were killed and one was seriously injured in three separate traffic accidents today.

And in Makaha, a police officer was injured when she was struck by a car she had stopped.

In the first accident, at 5:35 a.m. a 43-year-old woman was killed in Waimanalo when she was struck by a pickup truck on Kalaniana'ole Highway.

Police also were called at 10 a.m. to an accident on North King Street, fronting the Kapalama post office, in which an elderly couple was killed. A man, 80, was taken to The Queen's Medical Center and the woman, 81, was taken to Kuakini Medical Center; they later died.

They were driving a light blue Honda Civic four-door sedan, which crashed into wall on diamondhead end of the post office parking lot. The male victim was not wearing a seatbelt, said traffic investigator Sgt. William Baldwin, who said it's unclear whether the woman was wearing a belt. A witness told police the couple appeared to be arguing but that has not been confirmed. Baldwin asked anyone who witnessed the accident to call him at 529-3136 or 529-3527.

At 10:23 a.m., a moped rider was critically injured in an accident in the makai-bound lanes of Likelike Highway, near Kalihi Street. She was taken in critical condition to Queen's, where later her condition was upgraded to guarded.

Baldwin said the Waimanalo accident happened when the victim, a Waimanalo resident, tried to cross the highway, starting from the mauka shoulder. She was crossing between the Pu'uone and 'Olu'olu street intersections and was not in a crosswalk.

At 5:35 a.m., a 1998 Ford pickup truck heading toward Makapu'u, driven by a 56-year-old Waimanalo woman, struck the victim.

The victim was taken to Castle Memorial Medical Center, where she died.

Police this morning were investigating whether speed was involved in the accident.

Makapu'u-bound traffic was diverted around the accident on 'Olu'olu and Pu'uone streets.

In the Makaha accident at 10:45 a.m., a plainclothes police officer stopped a car near the intersection of Farrington Highway and Lahilahi Street. She was struck by the car when the driver fled; police said she was taken to the Wai'anae Coast Comprehensive Health Center, where she was treated and released.