It’s been a deadly Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday weekend on East Hawaii roads, with two traffic fatalities occurring in Puna within an 8-hour period.
The first fatal collision occurred Friday evening in Orchidland Estates.
According to police, officers responded at about 10:02 p.m. Friday to Aulii Street near the intersection of 41st Avenue.
Officers determined that a 42-year-old woman was driving a Polaris utility terrain vehicle with two other adult women and two minors aboard, when the vehicle rolled over during a wide turn east off 41st onto Aulii.
The driver, identified by police as Jessica Santos of Pahoa, was unresponsive at the scene. Santos was transported to Hilo Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at 1:11 a.m. Saturday.
One of the minors reportedly sustained minor injuries that didn’t require medical attention. The remaining three occupants of the UTV weren’t injured, police said.
Police believe that speed and inattention are contributing factors to the crash.
The second traffic fatality occurred early Saturday morning in Keaau, police said.
Officers responded at 5:09 a.m. when a 46-year-old Pahoa woman reported that something had struck her car windshield and shattered it in the vicinity of the 3-mile marker of Highway 130.
Hawaii Fire Department personnel were the first to arrive on scene, police said. They found an unresponsive man in the Hilo-bound lane of the highway with severe head and body trauma, about 300 feet north of where the involved vehicle was parked.
The pedestrian, who appears to be in his 50s, was transported to the Hilo Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 8:53 a.m.
Police said the victim is unknown at this time, pending identification and notification of next-of-kin.
The woman’s Pahoa-bound Acura sedan was in the right-hand lane of Highway 130 when it struck the pedestrian, who was on the highway between the left and right Pahoa-bound lanes, according to police.
It was dark, the pedestrian was wearing dark clothing and there were no roadway lights in the area, police said.
The driver sustained minor injuries from the shattered windshield of her car after the collision. The driver’s three children, a minor and two adults, also were in the car but were uninjured.
Police do not believe alcohol, drugs, speed or inattention were factors in the crash.
Coroner’s inquests have been opened in both fatalities, and autopsies have been ordered on both victims to determine the cause of death.
The deaths are the second and third traffic fatalities of the year, compared to two at the same time last year.
Police are asking potential witnesses or anyone with information on either fatality to contact Officer Jerome Duarte at (808) 961-2339 or Jerome.Duarte@HawaiiCounty.gov.
Those who prefer to anonymity may call Crime Stoppers at (808) 961-8300.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
