Suspect detained
in hit-and-run

Speed is suspected in the collision
that killed a motorcyclist

CORRECTION Sunday, August 1, 2004 The man suspected of being the driver in a hit-and-run accident in Halawa on Friday morning was taken to Pali Momi Medical Center, not Queen's Medical Center as incorrectly reported in a Page A4 article Saturday. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin strives to make its news report fair and accurate. If you have a question or comment about news coverage, call Editor Frank Bridgewater at 529-4791 or email him at corrections@starbulletin.com.

A 23-year-old Honolulu man faces possible charges of failure to render aid and first-degree negligent homicide in a hit-and-run collision that killed a motorcycle rider yesterday and seriously injured her passenger on an H-1 freeway ramp near Halawa, police said.

Police suspect the driver of the car was speeding before the collision.

"We're looking at speed and alcohol as factors," said Sgt. William Baldwin, of the Honolulu Police Department Traffic Division's Vehicular Homicide Section.

The accident occurred just before 4:15 a.m. on the ramp connecting the Koko Head-bound lanes of the H-1 freeway to the H-3 and Moanalua freeways.

Witnesses told police the car was speeding when it overtook another vehicle from the left, police said. When the car cut back to the right, it rear-ended the motorcycle, police said.

"Once it rear-ended the motorcycle, it ran over the driver," a 38-year-old Honolulu woman who was pronounced dead at the scene, Baldwin said.

The car fled the scene, he said.

The passenger, a 28-year-old Honolulu woman, was taken by ambulance to the Queen's Medical Center in serious condition.

Police, acting on a tip from ambulance workers, found the suspect at 6:30 a.m. sitting in his black 1995 four-door Mazda 626 parked near Komo Mai Drive off Waimano Home Road in Pearl City.

Police had not questioned the driver yesterday since he remained hospitalized at the Queen's Medical Center, where he was taken by ambulance for observation after sustaining a head injury.

Police shut down portions of the freeway for nearly four hours as they investigated the accident scene, backing up morning rush-hour traffic.

"The motorcycle was hit and went down quite a ways," said Baldwin, who noted debris strewn across the length of the 600-foot accident scene. However, the 2003 Honda Shadow motorcycle was mostly intact.

Baldwin said it appeared the motorcycle was "clipped, just enough to throw them off."

He said there were skid marks, apparently from the car near the site of the impact.

Neither of the women on the motorcycle was wearing helmets, Baldwin said.

The Mazda sustained damages consistent with what was found at the accident scene, Baldwin said.