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Wednesday, September 5, 2001



Racers unfazed
by HPD crusade

Police issued 1,388 moving
violation citations over
the Labor Day weekend

Shop owner aiming for organized races


By Leila Fujimori
lfujimori@starbulletin.com

Many speeders, racers and drunken drivers apparently were not deterred by the Honolulu Police Department's campaign to fight traffic-related violations and deaths this Labor Day weekend.

Police netted 1,388 moving violation citations, including 538 for speeding. Also, 105 arrests were made, 39 of which were for driving under the influence and one for negligent homicide.

Police concentrated much of their efforts in the Campbell Industrial Park/Kapolei corridor where Kristoffer Iberra, 22, was killed Aug. 17 in a high-speed crash after he left a night of racing at Hawaii Raceway Park in Campbell Industrial.

Art The police crackdown came in response to that accident and an Aug. 26 crash in which Holy Trinity School teacher Elizabeth Kekoa was killed when the van she was riding in was hit by another car. Police said Nicholas Tudisco, 18, was racing in the car that struck Kekoa's van. Tudisco has not been charged.

Both Iberra and Tudisco were driving cars equipped with after-market high-performance parts, police said. As part of their Labor Day crackdown, police cited 34 drivers for lack of reconstruction permits for their souped-up vehicles.

But Maj. Robert Prasser of HPD's Traffic Division insisted: "We are not targeting reconstructed vehicles. What we're targeting is the behavior." He said when police stop vehicles for violations, they learn the cars lack the proper licenses.

Using undercover decoy cars, police made two arrests and handed out eight citations for street racing. One driver in the H-1 Middle Street area offered to race and even taunted the driver of a Camaro who, unbeknownst to him, was an undercover police officer.

Prasser called the campaign fairly successful considering the size of Oahu's population.

"We stressed visibility deterrence," he said.

Police devoted its helicopter, sobriety checkpoints, extra traffic units and regular patrol units for the holiday weekend. The police helicopter spent 7.9 hours and 133 gallons of gasoline to check the H-1 and H-2 freeways and the Makakilo, Mililani and Sandy Beach/Makapuu areas on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.

Despite these added measures, there was one holiday fatality, in which a car hit and killed a bicyclist early Sunday morning at Kamehameha Highway and Kipapa Drive. Police suspect speed and alcohol may have been factors and arrested a 21-year-old male and a 20-year-old female for negligent homicide and failure to render aid.

Prasser said he was surprised two drivers were cited for going more than 100 mph on the H-1 freeway viaduct.

More than half of the traffic citations were made by regular patrol units, Prasser said.

While the police were targeting speeders, a large number of high-speed motorcycles evaded them this weekend. When police tried to stop the motorcycles, the riders would accelerate.

Prasser said police were instructed not to pursue them.

"We don't want them to become fatalities just because we're chasing them," he said.

HPD will continue its special traffic enforcement campaign at least once a month and during holidays. Prasser also said he will consider from Thanksgiving to New Year's "one big holiday block."



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