DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Flowers and beer bottles were set up on Tuesday at a memorial for five people who died in a single-car crash just outside Haleiwa. An autopsy performed by the Honolulu medical examiner found that the driver, 22-year-old Shannon Waiwaiole, had a blood-alcohol level of 0.142 percent, almost double the legal limit.

Driver in fatal crash
was legally drunk

An autopsy confirms what police
suspected in the one-car accident

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By Nelson Daranciang
ndaranciang@starbulletin.com

The driver in Tuesday's crash that killed five people just outside Haleiwa had a blood-alcohol level of 0.142 percent -- almost double the legal limit of 0.08 percent for driving under the influence, according to the autopsy performed by the Honolulu medical examiner.

The driver of the car was Shannon Waiwaiole, 22, of Waialua.

Police had already concluded that alcohol use on the part of the driver was a factor in the crash. They also determined that the car was speeding in excess of 80 mph.

Police said Waiwaiole's car was traveling south on Kamehameha Highway when it left the roadway and crashed into a tree on the road shoulder just past Kawailoa Drive.

Elizabeth "Momi" Askew, mother of brothers Patrick and Kaimana Askew-Jackson, who died in the crash, said Waiwaiole was trying to catch up to a car that had passed her and his cars just prior to the crash. All three cars were returning to Waialua following a visit to Shark's Cove, she said.

Askew said she was not surprised by the autopsy results. She said the victims had been drinking before the crash to celebrate her older son's 21st birthday.

Even though there were others in the car who did not drink or who had less alcohol in their system, Waiwaiole was the only one who had a driver's license, Askew said.

Two of Waiwaiole's passengers had blood-alcohol levels lower than his, while the other two tested negative for alcohol.

According to their autopsies, front-seat passenger Patrick Askew-Jackson, 21, had a blood alcohol level of 0.022, while rear-seat passenger Jose Delizo Jr., 17, had a blood-alcohol level of 0.109.

The two other rear-seat passengers, Kaimana Askew-Jackson, 13, and Rex Dicion, 31, tested negative. All were friends and neighbors in the Paalaa Kai subdivision.