Ala Moana car crash kills two, injures three
By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
Two 19-year-old men were killed yesterday when their speeding Honda crossed the centerline of Ala Moana Boulevard and rammed a sport utility vehicle.
Three military men in the SUV were injured, police said. One was in critical condition at The Queen's Medical Center, and the others were listed in good condition.
Managers of Team High Performance, a Honolulu yo-yo team, said Ryan Kono, one of the team's founding members, was one of the two men killed.
Friends who gathered at the scene yesterday identified the other man as Andrew Ngan.
Police said the eastbound Honda crossed the centerline of Ala Moana at Keawe Street and collided with the westbound SUV at about 4:15 a.m. Witnesses told police that another eastbound car, also speeding, had been traveling in front of the Honda before it crashed.
Alan Nagao, organizer of Team High Performance and owner of High Performance Kites at Ala Moana Center, said Kono was a co-captain and one of the original 13 kids who founded Team High Performance in 1997.
"He was a great yo-yo player," Nagao said.
Kono was a leader and a teacher who enjoyed helping others as he traveled through the United States and Japan, Nagao said. In 1999, the group won a world championship.
As he got older, Kono stopped participating on a regular basis, but was still considered a mentor by the younger kids, Nagao said.
"When they grow up — once they are driving age — that is about the end of their yo-yo days," he said.
The accident brought O'ahu's traffic-death toll to 65 for the year, compared with 51 at the same time last year.
Speeding was a factor in fatal and near-fatal accidents on both days of this weekend, police said.
On Saturday, a 21-year-old 'Ewa Beach man was killed when his car slammed into a light post on Ala Napunani in Salt Lake. Another man in his early 20s was in critical condition at Queen's with head and internal injuries after losing control of his car on Farrington Highway near the Makua firing range.
Reach Karen Blakeman at 535-2430 or kblakeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.
