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Chinatown crash
linked to nearby
road rage incident

The stabbing victim in the
van had been involved in a
traffic dispute minutes earlier

---

By Jaymes K. Song
Star-Bulletin

An apparent case of road rage between two men prompted an accident at a Chinatown lei shop, which critically injured a 74-year-old woman and backed up traffic for hours.

A 28-year-old motorist from Mililani yelled "slow down" to a 24-year-old motorist driving a Plymouth Voyager van near Maunakea and North King streets at 7:40 a.m. yesterday morning, police said.

The driver of the van got angry, followed the car for a few blocks and head-butted the motorist during a stop in traffic, police said. The Mililani man then allegedly stabbed the other man once in the chest.

The stabbing victim returned to the van, where a 25-year-old Nanakuli woman -- who was later arrested for drunken driving, negligent injury and driving without a license -- attempted to drive him to the hospital.

The woman lost control of the van near Beretania and Smith streets and slammed into Jenny's Lei and Flowers, pinning shop owner Janet Roberts against a glass refrigerator.

Roberts was critically injured but has improved, and she was in guarded condition today at Queen's Medical Center. The stabbing victim was in guarded condition yesterday; his updated condition was not released this morning.

The Mililani man turned himself in to police at 9:45 a.m. He was booked for second-degree assault. Two other male passengers in the van were arrested for assault and terroristic threatening.

Witnesses of the wreck at Jenny's Lei and Flowers said a green Plymouth Voyager van came screeching around Smith Street onto Beretania Street at about 8:10 a.m., then slammed into a parked Nissan 240SX with two children inside before crashing into the shop.

After hitting Roberts, the driver of the van reversed out of the lei shop, but Lloyd Roberts, the woman's son, ran after the van.

"I told them, you're not going anywhere, you hit my mom," he said.

Lloyd Roberts said he grabbed the steering wheel as hard as he could, causing the van to hit a blue Volvo and end up on the sidewalk across the street from the lei shop. Roberts said he put the van in park and took out the keys.

Two male passengers in the van got out and threatened Roberts, he said. "They came after me, and I grabbed a bat to defend myself," he said.

Two other men, whom Roberts said were pastors, were able to defuse the situation before police arrived.

Bryce and Hunter Roberts, 6 and 4, who were in the parked car, were taken to Kapiolani Medical Center for observation. Lloyd Roberts was also hit by the van, but was not seriously injured and did not go to the hospital.

Janet Robert's brother, Henry Lau, was sitting 15 feet away from the accident when his sister was hit.