Hilo hula teacher involved
in fatal mo-ped collision
HILO >> Big Island police are investigating a traffic accident in which a car driven by hula teacher Ray Fonseca collided with a mo-ped, killing the moped's rider.
The accident in the rural Eden Roc subdivision south of Hilo was reported to police at 7:22 p.m. Saturday. The mo-ped rider, Michael Spens, 59, of Mountain View, died at Hilo Medical Center at 1:27 p.m. Sunday, police said.
Initially classified as a negligent injury, the classification was changed to negligent homicide, but that designation is standard when a traffic death occurs, police said.
Fonseca, 50, who also spells his first name Rae, was driving a sport utility vehicle on Palainui Avenue, the main street in the subdivision, in a direction that would have taken him out of the subdivision, police said.
Spens was driving into the subdivision, and the two collided head-on.
Fonseca has been well known for many years for the participation of his school, Halau Hula o Kahikilaulani, in annual Merrie Monarch competitions. The school took third place in the Wahine Kahiko division in April.
Eden Roc community association treasurer Louis Miller said Palainui is two lanes wide, with one lane well paved and the other consisting of paving with patches. Grass and brush along the shoulders of the street had been mowed, he said.
Miller said the street is straight with no blind hills. Miller said he was not aware of any witnesses. Police asked anyone with information about the case to call 961-2332.
The Traffic Enforcement Unit, which is investigating the case, was not available for comment.