Suspect in fatal
accident arrestedPolice say the driver who hit a woman on
her morning walk admitted to drug use
A family member describes 76-year-old Barbara Gallicchio as a tough-talking Brooklyn girl who had been living in Hawaii more than 30 years and enjoyed walking and biking around Diamond Head Road every day.
That was until Friday, when she was struck by a car near the lighthouse and died.
The man police say was driving the car admitted smoking crystal methamphetamine, or "ice," the night before the accident, according to court documents.
Honolulu police said Gallicchio had been walking between two of the lookouts when she was struck by a Koko Head-bound vehicle at about 5:12 a.m.
"It figures," said her older brother, Paul Johnsen, who flew in from Florida after he heard of her death. "We couldn't figure out why she was hit on that road which seemed pretty straight. ... There were no turns or anything. There didn't seem to be any reason for it."
Police initially arrested Andres Paredes, 31, under suspicion of negligent homicide in Gallicchio's death, and also for terroristic threatening because of remarks he allegedly made to officers at the scene. Paredes also faces federal firearm and drug charges after police allegedly found a 12-gauge shotgun and four small packets of crystal methamphetamine and other drugs in the 1990 Subaru he was driving.
According to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court yesterday, on the morning of the accident, Paredes asked officers at the scene, "If I charge you, would you shoot me?"
He then asked, "What if I had a knife like this one?" before actually taking out a knife, then added, "Just shoot me," according to the complaint.
An affidavit attached to the complaint said police arrested Parades for terroristic threatening after his remarks, but that he provided officers with written consent to search his vehicle. That's when police said they found a Heckler & Koch Benelli 12-gauge shotgun along with eight shotgun shells, the four packets of ice, another packet of marijuana and prescription pills.
According to the affidavit, on Sunday Paredes admitted to federal agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to being both a drug trafficker and delivery person for narcotics, including selling "dime" bags of crystal meth. Paredes also admitted to agents that he used the shotgun in his car for "protection and security purposes."
The affidavit also stated that Paredes said he was a habitual user of crystal meth and that he was smoking the drug the night before the accident. Paredes has since been transferred from police custody to the federal detention center.
During Paredes' initial appearance in federal court Monday afternoon, he refused to answer questions from Magistrate Barry Kurren and was escorted from the courtroom after swearing several times, federal prosecutors said.