Four dead, three injured in Makaha head-on crash
By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer
MAKAHA — Four people were killed and three seriously injured last night when a car that appeared to be racing crashed head-on into a sport utility vehicle on Farrington Highway, witnesses said.
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
One witness said the car may also have hit a young couple walking across Farrington Highway.
All four of the people killed in last night's crash were traveling in the Nissan Altima at left. Two of the victims were pinned in the front seat; the other two victims were thrown from the car.
Police said the accident happened at 7:14 p.m. near the Makaha Surfside apartments, just west of Wai'anae High School.
Ambulance personnel said all four of the people who were killed were from a Nissan Altima that witnesses said had been speeding. Two of the victims, men in their 20s, were pinned in the front seat. The other two victims were adult women who were thrown from the car.
The two men and one of the women were pronounced dead at the scene; the other woman was pronounced dead later after being taken to Wai'anae Coast Comprehensive Medical Center .
Three people were flown on an Army medevac helicopter to The Queen's Medical Center in serious condition.
It was not immediately known how many people were in the SUV.
Witnesses said the Altima and a white Honda were racing westbound on Farrington Highway, traveling toward Makua.
Kenny Kanehailua was a passenger in a westbound car that was passed by the Honda and Altima at high speed, he said. Kanehailua, a Makaha resident, said the Altima was in the middle turn lane when it lost control, swerved a couple of times and crashed head-on into a Ford Explorer traveling toward Honolulu.
Kanehailua said the driver of the Honda parked, went to look at the Altima, then drove away.
"My friend got kind of pissed off because they overtook us and he wanted to go chase them down," Kanehailua said. "But I told him, 'No do that,' and the next thing you know this happened.
"All we saw was, boom, and all this dust went flying in the air. So we pulled over to the side and we were looking if everybody was OK but there was no movement. Nothing."
Gafa Muafono, a senior at Wai'anae High, said he was outside his home when he saw the white car pass the Altima. He estimated they were going 80 mph "because the way they (the Altima) wen' spin out, three, four times. Its right front side hit the Explorer."
Muafono said he saw the Altima hit two pedestrians crossing Farrington Highway.
He said the driver of the Honda got out and "was calling his friend's name — 'Bronson, Bronson' — but they was all dead so he wen' dig out."
Police traffic investigators were at the scene and a contraflow lane was set up around the mauka-most lane of Farrington Highway.
Several students from Wai'anae High's video program were out taping a class project and recorded the aftermath of the accident.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
