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H-2 auto crash kills 22-year-old
A 22-year-old man was killed early yesterday when the 1989 Jeep Cherokee he was driving veered back and forth across H-2 Freeway before hitting a power pole and flipping over on the roadside embankment.
Honolulu police said Jonathan Quindica Jr. was taken to Wahiawa General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Speed and alcohol may have been factors in the crash, police said.
Quindica graduated in 1998 from Wai'anae High School, where he was an all-star volleyball player. He worked as a window washer and was an avid fisherman.
The crash occurred at about 4 a.m. when the white Cherokee, northbound on H-2 one-third of a mile north of the Mililani Technical offramp, veered first into the grassy center median, then across three lanes of traffic to hit a metal light pole on the east shoulder.
Hilo man identified in fatal crash
A 22-year-old man died early yesterday on the Big Island after the car he was driving ran off the road and crashed into a guardrail and then a concrete bridge railing, police said.
The man was identified as Diego Pua Jr., of a Papa'ikou address in Hilo. Three passengers in the car were hospitalized in stable condition.
The accident occurred just before 4:30 a.m. yesterday on Hawai'i Belt Road at the Honoli'i Bridge in the South Hilo district.
Big Island police said Pua was driving a 1991 Acura sedan toward Hamakua when he ran off the right shoulder of the road and crashed into the end of a guardrail. The car then crossed the centerline and struck the left side of the concrete bridge railing, crossed back over and struck the right side of the concrete bridge railing before coming to rest in the middle of both lanes of traffic.
Pua was taken to the Hilo Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 7:03 a.m., police said.
Investigators determined that alcohol and speed were factors. The vehicle's speedometer was locked at 75 mph, police said.
Children suspected of setting Kona fire
Three children playing with matches are believed to have caused a fire reported Saturday afternoon in open brush land south of Kona Palisades on the Big Island, fire investigators said.
Firefighters sent an engine, a tanker and two helicopters to the blaze, as well as recruiting a D-8 bulldozer to cut a fire break.
The fire was brought under control within an hour, while volunteers protected homes on the north flank of the fire.
