Wedding becomes time to grieve after fatal crash
By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer
It was a wedding marred by deep grief yesterday at United Methodist Church in Honolulu.
Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser
What was meant to be a joyous event was overshadowed by the tragedy of the day before when three in the wedding party lost their lives hurrying to get to the rehearsal on time.
Steven Naulu comforts the Naulu children, from left, Akesa, Akanesi, Anita and Tevita. His niece, Mary Irene Filimoehala, 19, was killed in Friday's accident and his daughter Emeline, 21, was critically injured.
"I'm just so sad today," said John Filimoehala, 42, father of Mary Irene Filimoehala, who died in the Friday crash. "My baby is gone. I feel so bad. A wedding is supposed to be a happy occasion. But people were crying and wearing black. For this family, the day is filled with sadness."
According to authorities, six people were traveling at a high speed Friday in a rented 2004 Chevy Blazer when the vehicle went out of control and slammed into a wall near the Honolulu-bound entrance of the Wilson Tunnel on Likelike Highway. The SUV flipped over, its roof was crushed in, and the vehicle came to rest upright facing the opposite direction.
The people killed in the accident, according to the Honolulu medical examiner's office, were Joseph Naulu, 13, who was thrown from the vehicle; Mary Irene Filimoehala, 19; and Winnie Naulu, 27. They all were Kane'ohe residents.
Family members identified the injured who were taken to The Queen's Medical Center as Emeline Naulu, 21; Jasmine Lutui, 17; and Jonathan Fonua, 19, the driver. Naulu was in critical condition, Lutui in serious condition and Fonua in guarded condition.
Police Sgt. Alan Vegas said the Police Department has opened a negligent homicide investigation. "Because there are three people dead and we have a culpable driver, it's procedural for us to initiate negligent homicide cases," he said.
Vegas said that none of the survivors had been interviewed yesterday and that investigators are working with the prosecutor's office to determine if and when charges would be filed against the driver.
Kathryn Bob, who investigated the crash for the medical examiner's office, said three autopsies will be performed tomorrow.
Meanwhile, hundreds gathered for the wedding of Doris Naulu and Po'ese Vatikani at United Methodist Church yesterday, as scheduled — but the occasion was marked by deep sorrow.
John Filimoehala said his wife, Agnes, was so overcome with grief that she had spent much of the day weeping. They have one child now, he said — a son, Lasierra, 21.
Filimoehala said he feels no anger for Fonua, who he said lives in Los Angeles. The family and friends in the Blazer were festive and in a hurry to get to the wedding rehearsal, he said.
"The thing happened," he said quietly. "It was an accident. I feel only sadness. It is hard for me to find the words to say how I feel."
Yesterday afternoon, after the wedding, a large number of Naulu and Filimoehala family gathered at John Filimoehala's home on Kamehameha Highway in Kane'ohe.
Filimoehala, a general contractor who came to Hawai'i from Tonga in the mid-1980s, said friends and family had traveled to O'ahu for the wedding from as far away as Tonga and Japan.
While some in the family worked to prepare food for the large gathering, others sat quietly together and said little or nothing.
The previous evening, about five dozen of them had gone to The Queen's Medical Center to keep a vigil and show family unity.
Steven Naulu, 51, Agnes Filimoehala's brother, said his daughter Emeline suffered a severe spinal injury in the crash.
Naulu, who went to see his daughter at Queen's, said: "She may be paralyzed. I don't know if she'll make it."
But he said he's trying not to give up hope.
"It is just tremendously sad," he said. "The wedding's pau — now, we're ready for the funerals."
Reach Will Hoover at 525-8038 or at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.
