StarBulletin.com

Police did not conduct extensive search for a wrong-way driver


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POSTED: Sunday, March 14, 2010

When a driver going the wrong way on the H-1 freeway hit a Toyota and narrowly missed two other cars in the early morning of the Presidents Day holiday last month, police responded to the scene quickly.

But they did not issue an all-points bulletin or conduct a wider search to catch the wrong-way driver, police radio tapes indicate.

“;When the incident happened, as is standard procedure, all patrol vehicles in the area were alerted to the incident; officers were sent to respond,”; Honolulu police spokeswoman Caroline Sluyter said in an e-mail. “;The information regarding the collision and descriptions of the wrong-way driver vehicle were given to patrol officers in the areas.”;

The investigation was turned over to the Traffic Division the day after the incident, Sluyter said. At that time, reports filed by police officers on duty on Feb. 15 were turned over to traffic investigators.

The case is classified as a misdemeanor because no one was seriously injured.

The tapes, released two weeks after the Star-Bulletin requested them, show that seven people called 911 to report the wrong-way driver between 4:44 and 4:49 a.m. on the holiday.

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The tapes indicate that the driver entered the Ewa-bound lanes of the freeway from the School Street exit and likely exited on or near the Pali Highway offramp.

But radio dispatch tapes following the crash show the only transmissions about the suspect truck were the initial dispatch to the scene and a report from an officer traveling west on the freeway, who told dispatchers that he saw the Toyota that was hit, but did not see the truck.

The tapes also reflect some confusion about the color of the truck.

The Toyota was driven by radio and television traffic reporter Jason Yotsuda, who said he was surprised police did not make a greater effort to find the wrong-way driver.

“;It's amazing more people didn't get hurt,”; Yotsuda said.

Yotsuda swerved away from the oncoming truck, which hit the side of his vehicle and kept going Koko Head-bound in the Ewa-bound lanes. Yotsuda was not injured.

On the police tapes, a stunned Yotsuda calls 911 to report the incident at 4:47 a.m., about three minutes after the first 911 call.

“;There's a car driving the wrong way on the freeway,”; Yotsuda tells the dispatcher.

“;We got that. Where is it now?”; she asks.

“;I don't know, because I hit it,”; he responds.

The first 911 caller saw the truck before it entered the freeway. The truck had stopped near the top of the School Street offramp facing the wrong way.

“;He's facing like he's coming on, like the headlights are facing onto the freeway. But it's an exit,”; the caller said.

Callers said the truck, traveling toward them with its headlights on, was moving too fast for them to get a license plate number.

Two callers said they had to swerve to get out of the way, including the last caller, at 4:49 a.m., who said she saw the truck come to a stop at the Pali Highway exit.

“;I don't know the color of it. We didn't see it. We almost hit it coming to it. We had to hurry up and swerve out of its way,”; she said.

A bystander who may have witnessed Yotsuda's crash described the wrong-way truck as a “;older-school. single-cab Dodge Ram.”;

“;Dark colored. Like a '96, you know, round-looking ones, not the new models or the ones before that,”; he told a 911 operator.

Police initially said they had a suspect in the case. But Sluyter had no update on the investigation, other than to say that no one had been arrested as of late last week.

Because the case is a misdemeanor, the truck driver, if caught and convicted, could face up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $2,000.

“;HPD investigates all cases thoroughly. All cases are important to us,”; Sluyter said.

 

               

     

 

 

Below are highlights of the seven calls 9-1-1 operators received about a wrong-way driver on the H-1 freeway on Feb. 15.

4:44 a.m. / Listen to full audio
        Caller: There's a pickup truck facing the wrong way on the school street off-ramp headed westbound on the (H-)1.
        911: H-1 westbound on School Street off.
        Female caller: Yeah. He's facing like he's coming on, like the headlights are facing onto the freeway. But its an exit.
        911: He's stopped there?
        Caller: He's sitting. I don't know why.

       

4:44 a.m. / Listen to full audio
        911: The School Street cutoff, there's a car going the wrong way?
        Caller: Yes. He's in the third lane. He swerved across all three lanes, almost hit me and hit another guy.
        911: Do you have a license plate by chance?
        Caller: No.
        911: And driving in the wrong way in traffic?
        Caller: Yes, He got in on the School Street ramp coming down the ramp the wrong way.

       

4:44 a.m. / Listen to full audio
        Caller: I'm heading west bound past the Likelike exit. There is a car or truck heading east bound on the freeway.
        911: OK, so you're talking about eastbound, not westbound?
        Caller: I'm heading westbound. He's east bound ... 911: But it's a truck? OK, and what about the truck?
        Caller: It's heading eastbound on the freeway.
        911: What about the truck going eastbound? What's wrong with the truck?
        Caller: What else do you want to know about the truck?
        911: What are you calling about the truck. Caller: It's heading eastbound on the freeway. ...
        911: I got that.
        Caller: ... in the opposite direction.
        911: OK, so you're saying its in the westbound lanes driving eastbound ...
        ... Oh my God, it's going, how did it get there?
        Caller: It came out the School Street exit.

       

4:45 a.m. / Listen to full audio
        Caller: He's going the wrong way. He's going Koko Head bound on the Ewa bound lanes right where Punchbowl merges. It's before Middle Street. It's between the Vineyard exit and the Pali exit if you're Ewa bound.
        911: So he's going Koko Head in the Ewa-bounds lanes. What color truck?
        Caller: He's in the center median.

       

4:47 a.m. / Listen to full audio
        Caller: The guy that got hit is on the right and the guy that almost got hit was all the way on the left
        911 Are both vehicles still there?
        Caller: Nah, the other truck kept going.
        911: Oh the truck left.
        Caller: Yeah
        911: Did you get a license plate?
        Caller: No, I didn't. It was just an older school single cab Dodge Ram, dark colored. That's all. Like a '96 you know round looking ones, not the newer ones or the ones before. It was an older model, something like a '96 like that.
        911: An older model Dodge Ram.
        Caller: Yeah, single cab.
        911 Just kept on going?
        Caller: Yeah.

       

4:47 a.m. / Listen to full audio
        (edited for time and to remove personal information)
        Caller: There's a car driving the wrong way on the freeway.
        911: We got that. Where is it right now?
        Caller: I don't know because I hit it.
        911: You hit it?
        Caller: Yeah.
        911: Where are you?
        Caller: I'm before the School Street off-ramp going West bound…
        ... 911: Are you injured?
        Caller: I don't think so.
        911: Do you want an ambulance?
        Caller: No, no need.

       

4:49 a.m. / Listen to full audio
        Caller: There's a truck on the H-1 west by the Pali exit that's facing the wrong way. It's coming on incoming traffic. ...
        ... 911: Is it stopped?
        Caller: It's parked and its headlights are on ...
        ... 911: You said it's blue in color?
        Caller: I don't know the color of it. We didn't see it. We almost hit it coming to it. We had to hurry up and swerve out of its way.

       

Initial dispatch / Listen to full audio
        Police radio tapes contain the initial dispatch to the scene and a report from an officer traveling west on the H-1 Freeway who saw the accident, but didn't see the truck. Dispatchers initially thought the truck was white.