Sheriffs cleared in
Mapunapuna death

Tests reveal that the driver's
blood alcohol level was more
than twice the legal limit

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By Nelson Daranciang
ndaranciang@starbulletin.com

The man who died trying to flee state deputy sheriffs following a vehicle chase through Mapunapuna last month had a blood alcohol level of 0.185 percent, according to tests conducted by the Honolulu medical examiner.

The legal limit to operate a motor vehicle is .08.

"That closes the investigation," said Ted Sakai, state Department of Public Safety director.

"There was no finding that the sheriffs did anything wrong. They handled things properly," he said.

Melvin Vigilla, 39, was attempting to leap from an H-1 freeway offramp to the airport viaduct on Dec. 4 when he plunged 40 feet to his death onto Nimitz Highway.

Sakai said Vigilla was driving his pickup truck erratically on Lagoon Drive when two deputy sheriffs tried to get him to pull over.

Vigilla refused and led the deputies on a chase through the Mapunapuna industrial area, crashing into parked cars along the way.

The deputies caught up with Vigilla on Sand Island Access Road where he had crashed his truck into a guardrail, Sakai said.

Vigilla then restarted his truck and drove in the wrong lanes of traffic on Nimitz Highway toward the airport when he crashed his truck on the freeway offramp.

Vigilla got out of his vehicle and tried to leap from the offramp to the viaduct when he fell.

Vigilla's driver's license was revoked in 1998 for a driving-under-the-influence conviction, but he was issued a conditional permit.

In 1999 he was fined $75 for driving without a driver's license.