Reversing SUV driver kills Big Island girl, 1

A 1-year-old Holualoa girl died yesterday after a sport utility vehicle backed over her in a driveway on the Big Island.

Big Island police identified the girl as Maylani Piper-Caravalho of Holualoa in South Kona.

It was the fourth time in four months that a small child was fatally struck by a vehicle on private property in Hawaii.

Kona police said they responded to a 2:57 p.m. call from a residence on Mokuaikaua Road. A 40-year-old Naalehu man, who was picking up his son from the residence, was reversing out of the driveway in a 2007 Honda Pilot when he ran over the girl, police said.

The girl was transported to the Kona Community Hospital by the Fire Department and pronounced dead at 3:40 p.m.

Police do not suspect alcohol or speed as factors in the case.

Big Island traffic investigators have opened a negligent homicide investigation and ordered an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death.

The accident does not count toward the island's official traffic fatality count because it occurred on private property.

There have been three other fatal accidents involving children hit by vehicles on private property recently:

» On March 6, a 2-year-old girl died and her 4-year-old brother was injured after they were struck by a sport utility vehicle backing out of the family's driveway in Punaluu.

» On Feb. 10, a 2-year-old Big Island girl was killed when a pickup truck hit her in the yard of an Orchidland home.

» On Dec. 14, a 1-year-old boy died after his 30-year-old father accidentally backed his vehicle over his son in a Kaneohe driveway.