Posted at 12:27 p.m., Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Heart attack killed man in one-car crash on Big Island
Advertiser Staff
An autopsy performed on a 68-year-old Hawaiian Ocean View Estates man, who died Sunday after being involved in a one-vehicle crash on Saturday, determined that he died of a heart attack and not from injuries sustained in the crash.Martin Knowlton was a passenger in a 1979 Chevrolet pickup truck that was traveling south on Route 11 when it ran off the right side of the road, struck a culvert and overturned. Knowlton was partially ejected from the truck, which apparently had no seat belts.
Fire rescue workers took both the driver and Knowlton to Ka'u Hospital. The driver was treated and released. Knowlton was later transferred to Kona Community Hospital. He died at the hospital at 3:46 a.m. Sunday.
Traffic Enforcement Unit officers have reclassified the case from a negligent homicide to a coroner's inquest.
The traffic fatality count for the Big Island was reduced to 26 compared with 28 at this time last year.
