Driver in deadly
accident on drugs

Ecstasy and alcohol might
have played a role in an H-1
crash, a city official says

The wrong-way driver who died in an H-1 freeway accident that killed another driver and injured three others in April had been taking Ecstasy and had very high amounts of alcohol in his system, a toxicology report revealed.

"Ecstasy is known to alter perception," city Medical Examiner Kanthi De Alwis said. "It could have contributed to his driving the wrong way."

The toxicology report also revealed that 33-year-old Bradley Lopes also had high amounts of alcohol in his body. But both De Alwis and police have declined to say exactly how much.

"His alcohol was very, very high, way over the legal limit," De Alwis said. "Because of the altered perception with the use of Ecstasy, one can assume that it contributed to the traffic accident."

De Alwis said this is the first fatal traffic accident in Hawaii in which Ecstasy, a hallucinogenic stimulant, might have contributed to an accident. Lopes died of multiple trauma, however.

According to police, Lopes was driving a 2000 green Toyota pickup truck west in the eastbound lanes of the H-1 freeway when it collided head-on with a 1991 Toyota pickup at 1:16 a.m. April 9, near the Military Road Overpass in Kunia.

Jeremy Villanueva, 28, of Aiea was killed, and his three passengers, including a 1-year-old boy, suffered serious injuries.

De Alwis said her office has come across cases in which Ecstasy was detected in deceased individuals -- one in 2004, one in 2002 and one prior to that, but none of the cases involved traffic deaths.

"It's kind of rare," she said.

The designer drug remains prevalent among youths at all-night raves, or dance parties.

De Alwis warned that Ecstasy can be dissolved in drinks and that young people attending raves should exercise extreme caution in what they drink.

"The community needs to know that Ecstasy can alter the perception and in combination with alcohol would be worse," she said.

Police are expected to complete their investigation soon.

"I don't think any charges will be pursued since both drivers are dead," said Lt. Bennett Martin, of the Honolulu Police Department's Vehicular Homicide Section.