DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Police investigated an accident yesterday on the Pali Highway between Puiwa and Laimi roads. One woman died and a man was critically injured when their van, shown in foreground above, was hit head-on by a dump truck that crossed a grass median.
Pali head-on
collision kills womanA van's driver is hurt after
a truck apparently without brakes
crosses into oncoming lanes
A 54-year-old Honolulu woman was killed yesterday when a dump truck crossed into her lane on the Pali Highway and smashed head-on into her van.
Huong Truong, the passenger of a gold Nissan van, died in the accident that occurred in the Kailua-bound lane of the highway at about 11:42 a.m. The van driver was rushed to the Queen's Medical Center in critical condition. The driver of the truck sustained minor injuries. Their identities were not released.
The accident snarled traffic in both directions and closed the highway for several hours. Late last night, several lanes of the Pali were still closed and police were trying to figure out how to remove the mangled gravel truck.
The accident also downed a large utility pole that knocked out power for about 1,000 Nuuanu residents and the nearby Queen Emma Summer Palace, according to Hawaiian Electric Co. The outage lasted about 45 minutes.
Two witnesses said the driver of the truck bearing the name "Rick's Heavy Equipment" was headed toward Honolulu and lost control at the intersection with Puiwa Road.
Johnny Retuta, 27, of Waipahu, saw the accident from the side of the Honolulu-bound side of the road, where his own truck had broken down and he was waiting for a tow.
"It looked like he just lost his brakes," said Retuta. He pointed to the roadway and the grassy highway median divide: "There are no skid marks."
Transportation Department spokesman Scott Ishikawa said officials are investigating when the truck was last inspected.
Rick Martin, president of Rick's Heavy Equipment, could not be reached for comment.
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
The truck and its trailer were tangled in a telephone pole and wires, above and below.
Retuta said it looked as though the driver had a choice between running into three lanes of cars stopped ahead of him or crossing the grassy median to the opposite side of the highway in the hope that the hill leading to the summer palace grounds would slow or stop the truck.
Retuta said that as the truck crossed to the opposite side of the highway, the passenger side of the truck hit the passenger side of Truong's van. The impact blew out the truck's right front tire, Retuta said, and the truck swerved up the hill then arched to the right heading back toward the road. The truck hit a fire hydrant before smashing into a utility pole. The truck stopped as it wrapped around the pole, he said.
The truck sprayed its load of fist-sized gravel across the road, and scattered broken parts lay across the concrete.
Retuta described a rain of sparks and fire from the downed pole. He said the truck driver jumped out of the cab and ran to help the people in the van.
"I was so surprised he could jump out," said Retuta. "The driver kept saying 'I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.'"
Retuta said the van's passenger door was ripped open and Truong was "hanging out of the door suspended by her seat belt." The driver "was pinned in the van."
Retuta said the van may have hit the rear of a Handi-Van. A passenger in that van suffered injuries after the accident and the driver was not injured, according to Ken Hong, a spokesman for Handi-Van.
Retuta said that after the crash, cars on the highway stopped and people jumped out to help.
"This guy who seemed to know what he was doing was taking care of the driver (of the Nissan van)," said Retuta. "And when the ambulance arrived he yelled (to them) that the driver's pulse was weak.'"
Rosita Wong, 49, was in a four-door silver sedan that managed to stop just short of the gutted van. Wong, who was not injured, said she was in a Kailua-bound lane when she saw the truck.
"All I saw was a big truck coming right at me," she said. "I was too shocked to notice anything else. All my concern was that the truck would hit me."
Wong said the accident was over in seconds.
"The truck was already in my lane when I first saw it. It was a big, high truck going very fast. And two seconds after I saw it, I heard it, I saw it crash into the van."
Wong said the showers of sparks and fire from the utility pole scared her so she climbed out of her car and ran to the median.
"The driver (of the van) was trapped by the seat belt. He wasn't moving," she said.
Star-Bulletin reporter Rosemarie Bernardo contributed to this report.
