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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, May 31, 2006

One dead, two badly hurt in crash

By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer

A pickup truck lies on its roof on the eastbound side of H-1 Freeway near the Makakilo overpass. A passenger in the pickup died.

WILL HOOVER | The Honolulu Advertiser

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KAPOLEI — A Wai'anae man was killed and two people seriously injured yesterday in an H-1 Freeway collision in which a pickup truck tumbled end over end and landed upside down on the other side of the concrete median.

Traffic in both directions was snarled for several hours as police traffic investigators closed several lanes at the crash scene, about a quarter of a mile west of the Makakilo overpass.

The medical examiner's office said the victim was Darren Delos Santos, 42.

Police Lt. Frank Pugliese said a Chevrolet 3500 flatbed truck was traveling toward Wai'anae shortly before 1 p.m. in the middle lane when it tried to change to the fast lane and clipped a Chevrolet Colorado pickup.

The pickup flipped over, hit the median, tumbled end over end, and went over the median, Pugliese said. It landed on its roof on the eastbound side of H-1.

The flatbed truck, still on the westbound side of the freeway, sideswiped the median and scraped along for more than a tenth of a mile before coming to rest with two flat front tires.

Police said Delos Santos was killed after he was thrown from the pickup. He was pronounced dead at St. Francis Medical Center-West.

A 26-year-old woman who was driving the pickup and a 54-year-old man who was driving the flatbed truck were taken to The Queen's Medical Center in serious condition, said Emergency Services spokesman Bryan Cheplic.

Honolulu Fire Department spokesman Capt. Kenison Tejada said HFD received the alarm at 12:45 p.m. and dispatched an engine company to assist Emergency Medical Services personnel. He said that the man thrown from the pickup was on the ground between the pickup and the median, and that the driver was trapped inside.

"We called for extra help," said Tejada. He said firefighters had to cut the woman from the mangled pickup using the "jaws of life."

Police said they had not determined whether speed or alcohol were factors in the collision.

Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.