Posted on: Monday, May 13, 2002

Man killed in Nanakuli car accident

By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

A 21-year-old man died early yesterday morning after flipping his car into a drainage ditch at Ulehawa Beach Park in Nanakuli.

The man was driving a red 1995 Ford Mustang on Farrington Highway west of Hakimo Road when he turned onto an Ulehawa Beach Park road, headed east, according to police.

He ran into several large boulders and the car became airborne. It landed on its roof in a concrete drainage ditch.

An injured passenger was taken to a local hospital in good condition, police said.

The driver was trapped in his seat. He died before rescuers were able to get him out of the car.

Police think excessive speed was a factor but are unsure whether alcohol played a role.

Early Saturday morning an 18-year-old man survived a similar single-car accident in Punalu'u.

That man's car landed upside down in a pond near Kamehameha Highway and Punalu'u Valley Road. Passers-by were able to rescue him.

He remains in critical condition at The Queen's Medical Center.

The accident in Nanakuli marked the 27th fatality of 2002 on O'ahu, police said. There were 26 fatal accidents in 2001, they said.