Tree saves driver in steep plunge
By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
WAIPI'O VALLEY, Hawai'i — A Hamakua man who landed in a tree survived when his pickup truck plunged 300 feet off the Waipi'o Valley access road Friday night, but the man with him was killed.
Before dawn yesterday, family and friends found John Richard Davis, 35, hanging on to a branch that broke his fall about 100 feet above the beach below.
Rescue workers were calling him "the luckiest man alive."
County rescue workers rappelled the cliff and a county helicopter flew him to Hilo Medical Center.
Fire-rescue units had searched for Davis the night before but didn't find him in the thick fog.
Davis' family and friends returned before daybreak, descended the cliff, and heard him yelling and moaning.
The rescue workers who searched after dark Friday said they heard no sounds and speculated yesterday that Davis may have been unconscious at the time.
Davis, who was driving when the accident occurred, was reported in serious but stable condition with head, rib, back and hip injuries he suffered after falling out of the 1998 Chevrolet four-wheel-drive pickup truck.
Greg Rapozo, a South Kohala fire medical intensive-care technician who accompanied Davis to the hospital, said he probably will survive and "is a very lucky man."
Davis' 44-year-old passenger was trapped inside the vehicle, which fell 300 feet and crashed onto the beach below.
"The victim was pinned in the passenger seat of the vehicle. He had not been wearing a seat belt, although airbags deployed on both sides of the vehicle," said police Sgt. Samuel Jelsma.
Capt. Quince Mento of the Waiakea fire-rescue station said the paramedics were amazed that Davis survived.
Jelsma said the vehicle was about two-thirds of the way up the steep unpaved road when the truck climbed over an embankment on the left shoulder of the road, dropping off the side of the cliff.
Fire-rescue workers said the truck was passing another vehicle at the time.
Jelsma said witnesses reported that the truck was traveling recklessly and speeding up Waipi'o Valley just prior to the crash. Police also believe that alcohol was a factor in the accident, Jelsma said.
The passenger was pronounced dead at 2:10 a.m. yesterday at the hospital, marking the 10th traffic death on the Big Island this year, compared with two at the same time in 2001.
Reach Hugh Clark at hclark@honoluluadvertiser.com.
