Two elderly pedestrians were critically injured Thursday morning while crossing a street in Hilo.
Both 86-year-old women, one from Hilo and one visiting from Oahu, were expected to be flown to Oahu for further treatment, according to the Hawaii Police Department.
Police have opened a negligent injury investigation.
The women had just entered a crosswalk on the corner of Kinoole Street and Mamo Street shortly before 11 a.m. when they were struck by a blue 2016 Toyota Corolla driven by an 88-year-old woman, police reported.
The victims were immediately surrounded by compassionate passers-by who helped comfort them — and who kept them safe from further injury.
Kanoe Nakila said she was walking nearby, on an errand for her mom.
“I heard a boom or a bang,” she said.
The women were lying on the pavement in the center of the street and Nakila ran over to offer reassurance until emergency responders arrived.
So did Lopaka Costa Jr. of Puna.
Costa said he and his girlfriend had just stepped from the crosswalk onto the sidewalk when the women were hit.
“We walked past those ladies, and they stepped into the crosswalk,” Costa said. “… I called 911 and I was trying to tell them, ‘Just hurry up, get an ambulance here!’”
He was advised by the dispatcher to use a shirt or towel to press on the wound of one of the women, who was bleeding quite a bit.
“So I ran to my car and I grabbed my favorite jacket and took it to the elderly woman, and I applied pressure to the wound,” Costa said, still shaken from the event. “If that was one of my grandparents, I’d want somebody to help them out.”
The woman asked Costa to hold her hand, and he did so, offering reassurance until firefighters arrived.
Parking control officer Melanie Manarpaac, a county Public Works employee who serves the downtown area, was on her normal route checking parked vehicles when she came upon the scene.
Passers-by were kneeling by the women, urgently trying to help.
Manarpaac got out of the vehicle she works from and began directing traffic at the busy intersection, making sure cars and trucks steered clear from the center portion of the street.
“I’m just doing my part,” she said later, deflecting recognition.
Costa went from one of the women, who was sitting up, to the other, who was lying on the pavement in the middle of Kinoole.
The seated woman, he said, seemed to be doing OK, considering what she’d been through. But the other was confused about what had happened and didn’t realize she’d been hit by a car.
When the alarm sounded, firefighters at the nearby fire station on Ponahawai Street didn’t wait for the EMS vehicle, which went separately, but instead took off sprinting up the block.
Costa saw them coming and was thankful to see them — and impressed.
A fire engine pulled up and blocked Kinoole entirely. Manarpaac then moved up the street from the scene of the incident to a spot near McDonald’s and detoured traffic through the Sack N Save parking lot.
Multiple police officers responded to take over traffic direction from Manarpaac and to investigate.
Costa said he thought the driver of the car that struck the women didn’t see them in the crosswalk. He said she pulled the car over, seemed startled and extremely distressed after the incident.
Police said she was not injured.
Costa was pleased with everyone who stopped to help and the compassion they showed.
“It’s always good when good Samaritans come together to help people out,” he said.
Email Jeff Hansel at jhansel@hawaii tribune-herald.com.
