WAILUKU, Maui — An 18-year-old found near death the morning after a beer party at Pa'uwela Point was evidently run over by a car where he lay, according to autopsy results released yesterday by the Maui Police Department.

Yesuah Boerstler, 18, suffered crushing head injuries sometime Wednesday night or early Thursday, and died Friday at Maui Memorial Medical Center, said Lt. Glenn Cuomo of the Criminal Investigation Division. There were no other injuries, he said, and the autopsy did not find signs of an assault. Boerstler had alcohol in his system, and more testing will be done for other substances, Cuomo said.

Still to be determined is whether Boerstler's death was accidental. Police do not know who ran over him.

Friends yesterday described Boerstler as an easygoing young man who enjoyed music and skateboarding. He was part of a group of 20 to 25 friends who hung out at the Kihei Skatepark.

"It's devastated us. He was like a brother to all of us," said Thor Altland, 19, who played guitar in a punk-rock band with Boerstler, who was the drummer. The two met while attending King Kekaulike High School in Pukalani, just after Boerstler had moved to Maui from Kaua'i. "He was the happiest kid I ever met. He had so much energy and spirituality. He was really aware of his spirit and wanted to spread love to everyone," Altland said.

Friend Alex Milani, 16, said Boerstler lived in Kihei with his mother and 15-year-old brother, and was pursing his GED after dropping out of high school. He had just bought a car and gotten a new job, Milani said, and was planning to head to Oregon at the end of the year to pursue his musical career.

Milani, a senior at King Kekaulike, plays in a heavy-metal band that performed at the same events as Boerstler's group.

He said about 50 to 60 people were at a birthday party Wednesday night near the Pa'uwela Lighthouse, in a rugged, remote area consisting of farm fields, dirt roads and sheer ocean cliffs.

Milani said he was there from about 8 to 10 p.m.

"Yesuah was the first person I saw. He was standing there all smiling," he said. "I was chilling with him the whole time I was there. He was having a good time and just running around, then all of a sudden he disappeared. I was talking to somebody else and looked away and he was gone."

Milani said that was the last time he saw his friend. "Yesuah was the most peaceful man I ever met in my whole life. He didn't deserve this," he said.

A passer-by found an unconscious Boerstler at about 8 a.m. Thursday, and he was taken to the hospital.

Pa'uwela Point is one of several areas on Maui's north and east coastlines where groups of young people, many under the legal drinking age of 21, are known to party, said Lt. Mollie Klingman of the Maui Police Department's Juvenile Section.

"We check there when we can. In the summertime and when there's a full moon, there are lots of parties, and our patrols are running from place to place. I'm happy that school's back and that they are running year-round now," Klingman said.

On Friday night, police arrested five people at an outdoor beer party at Stable Road in Spreckelsville, another popular spot, she said.

Reach Christie Wilson at cwilson@honoluluadvertiser.com.