Updated at 6:33 a.m., Sunday, January 6, 2008
Boy, 16, killed in pedestrian accident on Big Island
Advertiser Staff
A 16-year-old Keaau boy died Friday from injuries he sustained in a motor vehicle/pedestrian crash on the Hawaii Belt Road (Route 11) at the 8 mile-marker in Keaau.The pedestrian was identified as Kaipo L. Sioloa of a Keaau address.
Responding to a 12:12 a.m. call, Puna patrol and Traffic Enforcement Unit officers determined that the boy was crossing the highway in a westerly-to-easterly direction when he was struck in the outer northbound lane of the highway by a 19-year-old Keaau man who was operating a 1990 Toyota 4-door sedan.
The pedestrian was not in a crosswalk.
Fire Department personnel took the boy to Hilo Medical Center, where he died at 8:35 a.m.
The driver of the vehicle was not injured.
Police do not believe that speed was a factor in the crash but learned that the victim had consumed alcohol before he was hit.
Traffic Enforcement Unit officers have initiated a negligent homicide investigation and have ordered an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death.
Police ask anyone with information about this case to call Officer Robert Pauole at 961-8119.
This is the first traffic fatality on the Big Island this year compared with none at this time last year.
