KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Two people were killed this morning in an accident at Keawe Street and Ala Moana. A friend of the victims yesterday looked at flowers someone left at the intersection after the crash.
Racing suspected
in fatal car crashTwo men were killed and
three others were hurt
in the accident on Ala Moana
Police suspect racing contributed to an early-morning car crash yesterday that killed two men and injured three others on Ala Moana.
A 1995 blue Honda Accord appeared to have been speeding east on Ala Moana when it lost control and skidded into the path of an oncoming 1982 GMC sport utility vehicle and a pickup truck, police said.
The GMC crashed into the Honda's side, causing its occupants, Andrew Ngan, 21, and Ryan Kono, 20, to be thrown from the vehicle. They were pronounced dead at the scene.
The accident occurred about 4:15 a.m. on Ala Moana at the intersection with Keawe Street.
The men sustained "multiple injuries all over their bodies, from head to toe," said Sgt. John Agno of the Honolulu Police Department Traffic Division's Vehicular Homicide Section.
"The GMC SUV was practically all the way through the Honda," Agno said.
He did not know if any of the victims were wearing seat belts, and he didn't have an estimate of the car's speed.
The two were Oahu's 64th and 65th traffic fatalities of the year, compared with 51 at the same time last year.
"We suspect they may have been racing," Agno said. He said police will question witnesses who may have seen the Honda racing.
Two of the GMC's three occupants, who are in the Navy, were taken to the Queen's Medical Center. One was in critical condition and two were in good condition late yesterday afternoon.
The driver of the truck was not injured.
The Honda "looked like someone drove over it with a Sherman tank," said Mike Hlavaty, a salesman at CompUSA near the accident scene. "The steering wheel had been turned 90 degrees."
Police closed Ala Moana in both directions between South and Coral streets and Keawe Street between Ala Moana and Pohukaina Street for six hours.
Yesterday afternoon, balloons and several bouquets of flowers with personal notes were tied to the traffic-light pole near the crash site. One read: "2: Andrew & Ryan, Love U always."
Friend Derek Kam, 20, said he heard about the accident around 2 p.m. yesterday and had to leave work because he was so upset.
"These two make No. 3 that passed away in a five-month time," Kam said. Another friend died in a Makiki motorcycle accident.
"I'm losing three of my friends and they're all young," he said.
Kam said he and Andrew shared the same model car, Honda Accord, and would talk about what they wanted to do with them.
"Andrew was a cool guy," Kam said. "He was always there for his friends."
He added: "Ryan was our group joker. He made everybody laugh and stuff. He liked to talk."
Three young women who left balloons and flowers at the site said they had been out with the two men before the accident and expected to meet them at McCully Zippy's afterward.
The women, who would not give their names, said the men were not racing.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
