A deadly May on Big Island roads continued Monday as a man was killed during morning traffic after losing control of his pickup truck in Keaau.
Police are withholding his name pending positive identification and notification of his family.
The fatality is the sixth in a span of eight days, starting May 14, Mother’s Day, with two occurring in Puna and four in Kona.
Officers responding to an 8:06 a.m. call Monday determined the driver was Hilo-bound in a 1998 Toyota truck, merging from the Keaau bypass (Highway 130) onto Highway 11 when he lost control of the truck, ran up an embankment and overturned.
According to the Fire Department, the man was found unresponsive with a massive head injury after the pickup rolled onto the driver’s side. He showed no signs of life after being removed from the vehicle.
The victim was taken to Hilo Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 11:02 a.m.
An autopsy was ordered to determine the exact cause of death.
Witnesses to the crash are asked to call Officer Keith Nacis at 961-8119 or Crime Stoppers at 961-8300.
This is the 16th official traffic fatality of the year compared to 10 at this time last year.
The current spate of fatalities started Mother’s Day morning when Sgt. Terrence Hinton, a Schofield Barracks soldier from Grand Rapids, Mich., was killed when a tractor-trailer crashed through a guardrail at the intersection of Daniel K. Inouye Highway (Saddle Road) and Mamalahoa Highway (Highway 190) in West Hawaii.
Pfc. Marcus Smith, the 20-year-old driver of the tractor-trailer, was taken to North Hawaii Community Hospital, where he was treated for minor injuries and released.
That same night, 31-year-old Travis Serquina of Keaau was killed in a fiery wreck when a sedan rear-ended his pickup truck on Highway 130, near the Shower Drive and Pohaku Drive intersection in Hawaiian Paradise Park.
A 26-year-old Keaau man, Keempe Drequito, was charged with manslaughter in the collision. Police say Drequito, who has a history of speeding tickets, fled the scene of the crash on foot.
And three men died Wednesday morning when a driver lost control of a northbound 1998 Toyota 4Runner after passing several vehicles on Queen Kaahumanu Highway about a mile north of the Kona airport and broadsided a southbound 2008 Nissan Titan pickup.
Police identified the driver of the Titan, who was killed, as 37-year-old Hailame Lavaka of Waimea. His 32-year-old wife, Alana, was critically injured.
Police still haven’t officially identified the two men in the 4Runner, both of whom died, but West Hawaii Today reports they were Hector Vargas Vigil and Ocdulio Garcia Orellana, Kona residents originally from Guatemala.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
