Waialua student dies after being hit by truck
By Will Hoover
Advertiser North Shore Writer
Floreylyn Ramos, a 17-year-old Waialua High School senior who dreamed of becoming a nurse, died early yesterday morning after a pickup truck hit her Friday night on Kaukonahua Road.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
Floreylyn had been with friends at a bus stop near Pa'ala'a Kai Corner in Waialua and had decided to stay overnight with a girlfriend, according to her older sister, Florey, 20. Floreylyn and the friend were walking to Ramos' home on Hukilau Loop to pick up a few things when the accident happened at around 9:25 p.m., the sister said. The other girl was not injured, she said.
Balloons and a wooden cross were placed on Kaukonahua Road in Waialua, near the spot where Floreylyn Ramos, 17, was hit by a pickup truck Friday night. Police said poor street lighting could have been a factor.
Honolulu police said Floreylyn suffered head and internal injuries, and was pronounced dead at Wahiawa General Hospital. The southbound green 1991 Nissan pickup was driven by a 35-year-old Waialua man, they said. Alcohol was not a factor and police had not determined if the truck was speeding.
Police also indicated that poor street lighting could have been a factor. Kaukonahua is a narrow, two-lane road with an 18-inch loose rock pathway on each side of the pavement. Floreylyn was hit near the northern end of the Poamoho Stream bridge, which has even less room in which a pedestrian can maneuver. The bridge is illuminated by a single street light about 50 yards away.
Floreylyn's family was unaware Friday night that the reason police closed Kaukonahua Road was because a family member had been struck a short distance from the home.
"We knew something was going on down there, but we didn't know it was my sister," Florey Ramos said. "We didn't find out until about 1 o'clock in the morning. A friend of my sister's called the house and told my mom."
The family then called the hospital to confirm that Floreylyn had been admitted. Someone called back a short time later to say she had died.
RAMOS
Florey Ramos said her parents, Reynaldo and Florida Ramos, and her brother Reynaldo, 15, were all holding up well, although the loss was difficult for them to accept. Floreylyn's 18th birthday would have been June 22, the same month she was to have graduated from high school.
News of the death shocked residents in Waialua.
"We were trying to find out who it was," said Penny Ballesteros, who lives across from Waialua Intermediate and High School on Farrington Highway. "Over here in Waialua we're all close-knit. But nobody seems to know who it was. We heard something about it on the news this morning, but they didn't say who the family was."
Hale'iwa Supermarket cashiers Nelly Bolosan and Daisy Malunao found out when Floreylyn's brother and sister came in to the store yesterday morning to buy balloons to place on the bridge near where she had been hit.
"I asked her if she knew who it was who got killed," Bolosan said, "and she said, 'Yes, she was my sister.' And we said, 'Oh no, we are so sorry.' "
Mylene Agcaoili, 18, a Waialua High senior who works at McDonald's in Hale'iwa, was overcome with grief when she learned her best friend was dead.
"We first met in the fourth grade when I came to Hawai'i. She was the first person I met here. We went all through school together. She was a caring person, who would have done anything for me," said Agcaoili, who broke down and sobbed.
After regaining her composure, Agcaoili described Ramos as a quiet, sweet person with lots of friends. She said Floreylyn had played the clarinet in the high-school band, and the two of them were eagerly awaiting the day when they would rent an apartment together to study nursing at Kapi'olani Community College.
"This will change my plans," Agcaoili said. "But I'm still going to become a nurse like she wanted."
Reach Will Hoover at 525-8038 or whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.
