Posted on: Monday, December 6, 2004
Loss lingers for victim's family
By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
Harriet Seabury lit a candle in Kaka'ako Waterfront Park yesterday as part of a ceremony to remember people killed or injured by those who drink and drive.
Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser For Seabury the annual MADD vigil, held at a memorial depicting three figures with holes in their hearts, comes with memories of her husband, Ramus.
It also comes with hopes that the ceremony won't be the only resolution she will get in his death. Ramus Seabury was killed Feb. 23, 2003. No charges have been filed against the driver.
Ramus, a 62-year-old retired Hawaiian Dredging foreman, had helped Harriet raise children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
In the pre-dawn hours of Feb. 23, he leaned across the bed and kissed her goodbye. After she rubbed his head and told him that she loved him, he got into his car and drove up Kalaniana'ole Highway toward his job at the Marine base in Kane'ohe.
Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser At 4:31 a.m., near Olomana Golf course, the Nissan crossed the center line and smashed into Seabury's oncoming truck.
Seabury died at the scene. His 32-year-old son, Kekai, was driving home from work shortly after the wreck and saw his father's mangled truck.
Kekai was with Ramus during those final moments of his father's life, trying to squeeze into the wreckage to hold the dying man in his arms. Police who investigated the accident said on Feb. 23 that the 19-year-old driver of the Nissan appeared to have been drinking.
On Feb. 26, police said alcohol use by the Nissan's driver had been a factor in the wreck.
When asked yesterday whether charges would be filed in the Seabury case, police officer Tyrone Bush, who was involved in the investigation and who was one of a half-dozen officers at the vigil, said he had no comment.
Harriet Seabury said yesterday that although she can sympathize with the pain and guilt felt by those who unintentionally kill others, she hopes charges will be filed in the case before the end of the year.
She said she also hoped that people celebrating the holidays — particularly young people — will be sure to appoint a designated driver who will remain sober.
Among the others at the ceremony were Traci Jacob, a 40-year-old woman who lost a hand and suffered brain damage 20 years ago while drinking and riding in a car with a friend who had been drinking, and Quinn Nii, who lost his sister and a sister-in-law to a drunken driver.
Jacob said she is in college and finally adjusting to life in a wheelchair and with speech difficulties. She does a lot of community service work, she said. She gives blood.
"Without a blood supply," she said, "I'd be dead. For a long time — until the last few years — I thought that would be best."
Jacob said she is studying justice administration and hopes to become a victims' advocate.
Reach Karen Blakeman at 535-2430 or kblakeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.
With drunken driving arrests in 2004 approaching 3,000, ceremony organizers hope the annual event will call attention to the dangers of drinking and driving.
Kapena Alameda, left, and Ryan Seabury, second from left, carry flowers in honor of their grandfather, Ramus Seabury, at a vigil for the victims of drunken driving. Mothers Against Drunk Driving hosted the event to warn of the dangers of driving while drunk.
At 4:30 a.m., a 19-year-old man, reportedly asleep behind the wheel of a 2001 red Nissan pickup, was traveling with a passenger Waimanalo-bound on Kalaniana'ole Highway.
Kealoha Seabury, 13, fought back tears yesterday at a vigil sponsored by Mothers Against Drunk Driving. His grandfather, Ramus Seabury, died in a crash caused by a drunken driver.
