Sgt. John Agno of the police traffic division said speed and alcohol were factors in the crash. Police arrested the driver for investigation of drunken driving, negligent homicide, harassment of a police officer and failing to render aid.

Ikakoula was the front-seat passenger in a black 1997 Honda Civic that was traveling Kahuku-bound on Kamehameha Highway when the driver lost control and crashed four-tenths of a mile south of Pokelo Place.

The driver was trying to pass a car and swerved to avoid a vehicle in the oncoming lane, police said.

The Civic flipped several times and landed upside down in a patch of dense brush fronting Pounders Beach, police said. Ikakoula struck the base of a tree and died at the scene. He was the 16th traffic fatality on O'ahu this year, compared to 14 at the same time last year.

None of the passengers was wearing a seat belt, Agno said. Police traffic investigators closed Kamehameha Highway at 11:44 p.m. and did not reopen the road until 4:50 a.m.

The driver and the two rear-seat passengers, La'ie men ages 19 and 22, ran away after the crash, police and witnesses said. One of the men refused medical treatment before fleeing the scene, police said.

When patrol officers arrived, the driver leaped out of bushes and tried to attack one of the officers, Agno said. He was subdued and arrested, police said. The man was also wanted on traffic warrants, police said.

T Finau, who was visiting family at a house across the street from the crash, said she heard the collision and ran into the street to see what happened.

"When we ran out, all the guys was running away from the car," she said. "We didn't know the driver was in the bushes. The guy who refused treatment, he was bleeding everywhere. He had one busted nose. He just went home."

Her nephew, Kealoha Finau, said he ran over to the bushes where the car was sitting right after the wreck.

"The car was flipped over, it was smoking, everything," he said.

At the scene of the crash yesterday, a wide swath of tall grass and bush was crushed where the car skidded and flipped through. A blue-and-black San Diego Chargers cap sat next to a busted windshield. An orange shirt rolled inside a blue blazer sat in a scattered pile of glass.

Ikakoula's sister, Susan Ikakoula, 23, said Patrick was the third-youngest of six brothers and sisters. She described her brother as a quiet boy, who was very humble. She said their father lives and works in Utah.

"He was one of the best brothers I could ever have," she said. "He was a loving boy. You'll never meet a good boy like him."

She said her brother's death was sudden, but that the family has found solace in the belief that Patrick is now with his mother, who died when he was 2 years old.

"All our other brothers knew our mom. He was the only one that didn't know her," she said. "Now he's with her and that puts us at ease, at peace."

Felila Purcell, 19, said the couple's son Spaz will turn 2 months old next week. She knows that he will never know his dad, but she hopes that he grows up to have his father's heart.

"He was a good father while it lasted, and he was a good man," she said. "I want him (Spaz), to be like him. He had a good heart."