Posted on: Sunday, April 10, 2005

Three killed, five injured in O'ahu accidents

By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

Three people are dead and five were hospitalized after collisions on Oahu yesterday.

Police believe alcohol and speed may have been factors in a three-vehicle crash that killed two on the H-1 Freeway between Kunia and Waikele shortly after 1 a.m.

The 33-year-old driver of one of two pickup trucks was traveling west in the eastbound lanes of the highway, police said.

He was killed, as was the 28-year-old driver of a second pickup that had been headed east in the eastbound lanes before the collision, police said.

A 26-year-old woman, a passenger of the eastbound truck, was taken to The Queens Medical Center in critical condition. A 9-year-old girl and 1-year-old boy, passengers in the same truck, were taken to Queens in serious condition.

A 56-year-old woman who was driving a Mustang also was involved in a crash with the two trucks, police said. She was listed in fair condition when taken to Queens.

A 43-year-old Wai'anae man was killed about 4 p.m. yesterday on the shoulder of Farrington Highway near Tracks Beach.

Police said the man was standing at the trunk of his parked car looking inside when another car left the roadway and struck him.

Firefighters and Emergency Medical Services paramedics took the man to St. Francis West in critical condition, but he died of his injuries.

The driver of the car that struck him, a 26-year-old Wai'anae man, was taken to The Queens Medical Center in serious condition.

Police said they do not yet know whether speed and alcohol were factors. The man was the 25th accident fatality of the year on O'ahu, compared with 20 at the same time last year.

Reach Karen Blakeman at 535-2430 or kblakeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.