Maui man saw fatal 2-car crash

Joshua Goodwin pulled a woman from her smoking car

WAILUKU » Joshua Goodwin said he was driving home with his friend Allen Newman last week when he saw a two-car crash on Kuihelani Highway in Central Maui.

One car was on fire with 10- to 15-foot-high flames, and another was smoking, Goodwin said yesterday. When he rushed to pull a woman from the smoking car, the door was jammed so he pulled her out of the window.

"She was saying her boyfriend was in the other car," Goodwin recalled.

Goodwin said he ran to look in the burning vehicle but could not see anyone. Maui police investigators said they are still looking into the cause of the death of 24-year-old Albert Torres-Santos Bras in the crash at about 12:54 a.m. Jan. 11.

Police investigator Ericlee Correa said Bras, whose vehicle was hit broadside, had been pursuing the woman.

Correa said Bras has been involved in a relationship with the 18-year-old woman and that they had a child together.

Correa said police were still investigating if speed contributed to the crash and why Bras was pursuing the woman.

"The investigation is really very preliminary," Correa said.

Bras was the first traffic fatality of this year in Maui County, compared with none for the same period last year.