FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Sixth-grader Christian Mahuna lay in his bed yesterday in Kaiser Medical Center with his mom, Ellena Young. A car hit him Friday, breaking both his legs. CLICK FOR LARGE

Questions, nightmares haunt young victim

A million questions.

That's what a 12-year-old boy says he has for a driver who ran over both his legs on a street in Kalaeloa on Friday and drove off.

"How come he didn't stop? Did he even see me? Why didn't he help me?" said Christian Mahuna as he lay in his hospital bed yesterday with his two broken legs bandaged in soft casts.

"Please, I just wanna know why he didn't stop to help," Mahuna said.

Police are asking for the public's help in locating the hit-and-run driver who struck Mahuna while he was sitting on a curb waiting for his school bus Friday morning.

Mahuna's mother, Ellena Young, said her son left home at 7:25 a.m. to head to the school bus stop on Roosevelt Avenue, a few minutes away from their home.

Thirteen minutes later, she received a phone call that her son was in an accident.

About 7:29 a.m., Mahuna was sitting on the curb with his legs tucked under him, playing with a Tech Deck Dudes figurine. His mother said he looked up and saw a vehicle traveling fast on the street.

Mahuna went back to playing with his toy when he noticed the car coming toward him. "He tried to push off to get away, but couldn't. That's when the car ran over his legs," his mother said.

"He said he was screaming for help. The car didn't drop its speed, didn't press the brake lights. He didn't hear any screeching. The car just continued on its way like nothing happened," Young said.

Two other vehicles passed him while he was on the ground. A couple in a third car stopped to assist Mahuna.

He suffered compound fractures to both legs and was taken to the Queen's Medical Center. Mahuna underwent surgery to place steel rods in both legs, from just below his knees to his ankles. He was recently transferred to Kaiser Medical Center.

Mahuna was to be placed in a full lower-body cast today after doctors check the alignment of the steel rods in his right leg.

Mahuna, who has a clear memory of what had happened, now suffers nightmares and has difficulty sleeping.

"I'm hoping that this individual will (be) responsible," his mother said. "If they have children, then they should understand what my son is going through and that no child needs to go through an ordeal like this."

Mahuna, a sixth-grader at Kapolei Middle School, is likely to be tutored at home during his recovery, which is expected to take months.

The vehicle is described as a white, compact four-door sedan. The vehicle had racing-style attachments called a "ground-effects body kit" of rear and front bumpers and side skirts. The car also had dark tinted windows, gray-colored primer paint on the front and back bumpers, an air scoop on the front hood, a spoiler on the back and five-star pattern wheel rims.

Anyone who has information on the driver or the vehicle is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 955-8300.