Change in routine ended in tragedy
By Rod Ohira and David Waite
Advertiser Staff Writers
Barbara J. "Bobby" Gallicchio enjoyed riding her bicycle daily around Diamond Head but changed her normal exercise routine last week because she had back pain.
While walking Friday on the makai side of Diamond Head Road near the lighthouse, Gallicchio was struck from behind by a car that veered off the roadway shortly after 5 a.m. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Barbara J. "Bobby" Gallicchio was "adventurous, always willing to try new things," said her niece.
"She was doing things right but was just in the wrong place," Kathy Carr of New Jersey said of her 76-year-old aunt, who lived at the Colony Surf on Kalakaua Avenue.
Gallicchio was a physically fit and outspoken woman whose passion was traveling, said her brother, Paul Johnsen of Florida.
Gallicchio and one of her nieces traveled to Antarctica in February. Before returning to Hawai'i, Gallicchio visited her brother and his family in Florida.
"We just saw her, so (the news of her death) was shocking to us," Johnsen said.
Carr said her aunt was "adventurous, always willing to try new things."
"She was as tiny as a minute but too damn brave," Carr said, recalling how her aunt and grandniece recently kayaked along the coast of Maine.
Gallicchio and her husband, Michael, moved to Hawai'i from California after selling their music business. Michael Gallicchio died about 10 years ago, Johnsen said.
Services for Gallicchio are pending.
Meanwhile, a 31-year-old man who police say was driving the car that struck Gallicchio was charged Monday with several federal offenses.
A criminal complaint filed at U.S. District Court accuses Andres Paredes of dealing crystal methamphetamine and carrying a 12-gauge shotgun in his car. According to the criminal complaint, Paredes told police he was selling "dime bags" of crystal meth and was a chronic user of the drug, which he had smoked the night before.
State charges of second-degree negligent homicide and first-degree terroristic threatening also are pending against Paredes.
Paredes said he was carrying the shotgun for protection, according to the complaint.
The complaint also said Paredes threatened police officers who responded to the accident scene. He challenged one officer to shoot him, the complaint said.
"If I charge you, would you shoot me?" Paredes asked the officer, according to the complaint. "What if I had a knife like this one?"
Paredes brandished the knife and shouted, "Just shoot me," at which point he was arrested on suspicion of terroristic threatening, according to the complaint.
Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8181.
