Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee John Waihe'e IV pleaded not guilty yesterday to a drunken driving charge.

The plea was entered by Waihe'e's attorney, Greg Nishioka.

A second charge of driving without insurance was dismissed.

Waihe'e was in court briefly but left before the proceedings began. He ran from news crews waiting outside court to interview him.

Waihe'e was charged in connection with a May 10 accident on 'Auwaiolimu Street near the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl. The car he was driving collided with a pickup.

A police report on the accident said Waihe'e "appeared very disoriented" as he sat in his car, a 1991 Toyota MR2, as officers questioned him about possible injuries. The air bags in the car had been deployed and the windshield was cracked.

One officer reported that when he spoke to Waihe'e, "I could smell a strong odor of an alcoholic type beverage coming from his breath" and that Waihe'e had "red glassy bloodshot eyes and spoke very slowly with a slurred speech."

A later blood test allegedly showed Waihe'e was illegally impaired by alcohol at the time of the accident.

The driver of the other vehicle, Victoria Tauanuu, told police after the collision that she was backing out of her driveway and was stopped in traffic when Waihe'e's car ran into the passenger side of her pickup.

Her nephew told officers that after the collision, Waihe'e's vehicle "burned out in reverse and collided into a rock wall." Tauanuu and Waihe'e were taken to The Queen's Medical Center.

Waihe'e, 37, the son of former Gov. John Waihee III, was first elected to the OHA board of trustees in 2000.

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