John Siofele, honor student and star athlete from Saint Louis School, had a blood alcohol level nearly twice the legal limit for operating a motor vehicle when his car collided with a city bus early Monday in Nanakuli, his autopsy showed. Autopsy shows football star
was drunk when he hit city busBy Nelson Daranciang
ndaranciang@starbulletin.comSiofele, 18, had a .142 blood alcohol level, according to an autopsy report by the city's Department of the Medical Examiner. Hawaii law prohibits anyone with a blood alcohol level of .08 or higher from driving a vehicle. The legal age for drinking alcohol in Hawaii is 21.
Police said Siofele also may have been speeding when he crashed into the bus, which was beginning its first express run and carried no passengers.
Siofele died after crashing his Volkswagen Jetta head-on into the bus near Haleakala Avenue. Police said Siofele was traveling east on Farrington Highway about 4 a.m. when the car crossed the center line and crashed into the bus traveling in the opposite direction.
The 51-year-old bus driver was not injured. He told police he was slowing down for a stop when the collision occurred.
Siofele, a recent graduate of St. Louis where he was an all-star football linebacker, had planned to attended the University of Hawaii this fall on a football scholarship and major in computer science.
He was an honor roll student active in school and community activities and had won a $500 award as an outstanding high school senior of Samoan ancestry.