CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM A runaway Coca-Cola truck crashed into this Waipahu Samoan Assembly of God church meeting hall yesterday. Waipahu Elementary School, next door, kept kids in classrooms during morning recess while the truck was being removed.

Driver-less truck slams
into Waipahu church

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By Nelson Daranciang
ndaranciang@starbulletin.com

A woman fell six to eight feet through the floor of a church meeting hall in Waipahu yesterday after a runaway delivery truck crashed into the building, knocking it off its foundation.

Ada Alapati, 55, slid down an embankment after she hit the ground.

She was taken to St. Francis Medical Center-West where she was listed in stable condition last night.

A nursing supervisor said she would be held overnight for observation.

The incident happened about 6 a.m. at the Waipahu Samoan Assembly of God church at 94-515 Waipahu St.

The driver of a Coca-Cola truck was making a delivery at Waipahu Elementary School about 6 a.m. when the truck rolled down an incline, through the school's parking lot and broke through a fence, said Dan Whitford, Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Hawaii general manager.

The truck, without the driver, crashed into the meeting hall of the church nearby.

"We don't know what happened. We don't know what caused the truck to start moving," Whitford said.

The company is inspecting the truck and conducting its own investigation. Whitford said the company is keeping in contact with Alapati and her family and is sorry for any inconvenience that it caused the church and school.

The accident forced the school to reroute traffic through the parking lot where parents usually drop off their kids.

The students also were forced to stay inside their classrooms during morning recess as the truck was being removed.

"We had them on a rainy day schedule," said Mamo Carreira, school principal.

Church officials said the meeting hall may have to be demolished.