Big Isle mo-ped death is investigated

Big Island police were continuing to investigate the traffic death of a 27-year-old man who died after the mo-ped he was riding was struck by a sport utility vehicle in West Hawaii.

Michael Jauss, 27, of Kona died at the scene of the accident on Alii Drive, just north of the Royal Poinsettia, shortly before 1:56 a.m. Sunday morning.

Jauss, 27, who grew up in Sterling, Mich., lived in California before he moved on a whim to Hawaii, said his friend Nick Hande.

“;I was planning to come to Hawaii and see him,”; said Hande, a Michigan resident.

Hande said Jauss, who worked at Subway Sandwiches & Salads in Kailua-Kona, loved surfing and swimming.

“;He told me he had never been happier. ... He just loved life,”; Hande said.

Police said the SUV was traveling north when it hit a Ford pickup truck, then the mo-ped, dragging it and Jauss 20 yards before crashing into another pickup.

The woman driving the SUV and the driver of the second pickup were arrested on suspicion of negligent homicide and later released, pending further investigation.

Police ask that anyone who may have witnessed the crash call officer Thomas Koyanagi at 326-4646, ext. 229.

Kauai man hurt as utility truck flips

A 63-year-old Princeville man was injured yesterday morning when the white utility truck he was driving flipped over near Kealia Kai after spinning out of control on the wet Kuhio Highway.

He was taken to Wilcox Hospital for treatment.

Police said the man was southbound on the highway at 9:31 a.m. when he swerved toward the left to avoid the vehicle ahead of him that was slowing down.

The man lost control of his truck, and it began hydroplaning and spinning, police said. The truck then hit an embankment on the makai side of the highway and flipped over onto its roof in the northbound lane.