GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
A runaway Island Topsoil Service truck came to rest yesterday behind a basketball court at Waimalu Elementary.
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Driver hurt as truck crashes into Waimalu playground
A few minutes before morning recess at Waimalu Elementary School, a dump truck barreled downhill through an intersection and into a playground yesterday.
The playground and courts, usually filled with children playing dodgeball and basketball, were nearly empty.
"It was very, very lucky that there was no kids there," said a school custodian who asked not to be named. "Yesterday at that time, there was kids playing. I'm thankful nobody was there."
"It made a loud screeching sound," said summer school student Kiana Whaley, 9. "All my classmates got up. I thought some people were doing PE, so I thought they got ran over."
Five middle-school-age skateboarders were on the court when they saw the large white Island Topsoil Service truck crossing the intersection, and got out of the way in time.
The boys said they watched as the truck hit the wall, crossed the lawn and skidded across the basketball court and took down a chain-link fence.
Police said the female driver, 30, apparently lost control of the vehicle as she drove down Kaahele Street and rammed through a short hollow-tile wall and into the playground. She remained conscious, injuring her arm, police said.
An ambulance was called at 9:53 a.m., and the woman was taken to Queen's Medical Center in serious condition, an Emergency Medical Services spokesman said.
The Island Topsoils Service truck was loaded with gravel to make a delivery, a company spokesman said. It left a muddy path across the grassy play area a few yards from some playground equipment, skid marks on the court, mangled chain-link fencing and bent and broken metal posts.
Summer school student Lisa Roerk, 9, said, "It's scary. I thought the lady died."
"The desks were vibrating," she said. "It sounded like a really, really loud crash, like a meteor hit the earth."
Eight-year-old Jarred Uyeda, who plays dodgeball and basketball on the courts, said he heard "a big ka-boom sound."
Parents such as his father, Neal, were concerned for the safety of their children who play there.
"They should put up a bigger wall," he said. "You don't want to think about it after it happens."
Danielle Felix, who brought her daughters, 3 and 11, to the playground, said the family often picnics in the very spot where the truck crushed the wall.
"That little wall did nothing," she said. "It makes it feel like you don't want your kids here."
Her daughter Cheyenne Iasevoli, 11, shook her head when asked if she would play there again. "I don't think so."