JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM
A roadside memorial for David Aldridge II was seen yesterday outside Dole Plantation in Wahiawa. Aldridge was struck and killed in a hit-and-run incident last month while riding his bicycle from work. Police arrested a Waialua man as a suspect Saturday and released him yesterday pending further investigation.
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Suspect in hit-and-run is released
Police released a 37-year-old suspect yesterday in the hit-and-run crash in which 18-year-old bicyclist David Wayne Aldridge II was killed on Kamehameha Highway fronting Dole Plantation.
Arnel Ulep Abuluyan, who was arrested Saturday at his Waialua home, was released pending further investigation and has not yet been charged with a crime.
A tip led to Abuluyan's arrest on suspicion of negligent homicide and failure to render aid, the very day Aldridge was laid to rest in Jeffersonville, Ind.
Aldridge was riding his bicycle to his home at Helemano Military Reservation from his job at Burger King at Schofield Barracks when he was struck.
The day of Aldridge's funeral, a week after his death, police put out a description of the vehicle they suspected was involved in the hit-and-run case: a red flatbed truck.
But police seized a white 2006 GMC Savana van from a Waipio body shop in connection with the case.
It could take months before Abuluyan, an installer with Abbey Carpet & Floors Hawaii, is charged or indicted in this case.
Honolulu Police Department Traffic Division Maj. Susan Dowsett said traffic death cases can take months, depending on the complexity of the investigation.
Cases such as this generally have "a lot of evidence that we need to analyze and compare," she said.
As for the apparent discrepancy in the witness description, police said witness accounts might have been affected by conditions surrounding the accident.
"For any case, we try and investigate all leads," Dowsett said. "Even if a witness said it was red and it was white, we would follow up. We can only go on the best information available at the time."
Police would not comment on further specifics of the case and would not release the police report filed by Abbey Carpet & Floor, the owner of the van, citing an ongoing investigation.
A manager of the company acknowledged a police report had been filed the day of the accident.
The Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center's records show Abuluyan has no prior criminal convictions in Hawaii. He was found guilty of speeding in three cases, the most recent in February, and a case of violating a restricted use of controlled-access roadway or highway.