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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 7:10 p.m., Friday, June 6, 2008

Motorcyclist, 27, killed in Ewa Beach collision

Advertiser Staff

A man killed Thursday night when his speeding motorcycle broadsided a car filled with teenagers has been identified as Derek Francis, 27, of 'Ewa Beach, officials said today.

Francis was operating a 2006 Yamaha motorcycle "at a high rate of speed" southbound on Keaunui Drive about 10:15 p.m. when it hit a sedan driven by an 18-year-old 'Ewa woman, police traffic investigators said.

The car, with five teenagers inside, had stopped at an intersection and was turning left from Noelo Street onto Keaunui Drive when the motorcycle hit it, police said.

Francis was thrown from the motorcycle and pinned under the 2003 Mitsubishi Galant, and had to be extricated by firefighters. He suffered injuries to his lower torso and unspecified internal injuries. He was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, police said.

One person in the car, a 17-year-old girl sitting in the front passenger seat, was injured and was hospitalized in guarded condition, police said. The driver and three other passengers in the car were not seriously hurt.

Police said the speed of the motorcycle appeared to be a contributing factor in the crash. Francis was not wearing a helmet, police said.

The death was the 19th automobile fatality on O'ahu this year. Last year at this time, 35 people had been killed in auto crashes, according to police records.