Tyler Nainoa Duarte apologized in state court yesterday to the families of two women he killed when he crashed his SUV into their car in Waimanalo last year.

 

  Judge Sentences Teen In Double Fatal Crash

 

  The Waimanalo crash was memorable for the two tragic deaths and for the behavior of the driver who was fleeing police. 

 

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    “;I was young, ignorant and selfish,”; he said. “;I was 17 years old. I made the decision on Jan. 20 to speed, drink, use drugs.”;

Judge Frances Wong sentenced Duarte yesterday to two years in prison and five years' probation for leaving the scene of a fatal crash and two counts of first-degree negligent homicide. The prison term is a condition of and will be served at the same time as the parole. The two years represent one year for each of the two negligent homicides.

Wong also ordered Duarte, 19, to pay $7,224 in restitution to the women's families for the cost of the funerals.

Michelle A. Benevedes, 39, and her cousin Racquel L. Akau, 38, both of Waimanalo, died when their sedan was hit broadside by Duarte's SUV. The SUV pinned and crushed the car against a concrete tile wall along Kalanianaole Highway next to Waimanalo Elementary & Intermediate School.

Each of the women was a single mom of young children who are now being raised by relatives.

Duarte said he did not know he hit anybody. He said he thought he crashed into the wall.

“;If I did know that I hit that car and hurt your family the way I did, I wouldn't have run. I would have stayed and helped,”; he said.

The victims' family members said they do not believe Duarte.

“;That man that lived there by that stone wall said (Akau) was screaming for her life, 'Help me, help me. Somebody, help me,'”; said Nadine Aila, Akau's sister-in-law.

Akau's sister Sandra Storm-Conway said, “;You had to have heard her screams. The whole neighborhood heard her screams. And yet you fled the scene to save your own ass.”;

Wong said she shares the state's concern that Duarte lacks remorse for what he did.

After police arrested Duarte, he expressed more concern over the trouble he was in with his parents for wrecking the SUV and the loss of his scholarship than the deaths of the two women, said Sheila Nitta, deputy city prosecutor.

Nitta said Duarte had been at a friend's birthday party nearby where he admitted drinking alcohol. He left the party in the SUV speeding, ran a red light, screeched through Waimanalo Town Center's parking lot, entered Kalanianaole Highway, drove onto the shoulder of the roadway and crashed into the women's car at an intersection. The women were waiting to make a turn onto the highway.

She said Duarte's blood had an alcohol level of 0.06 and showed traces of cocaine and marijuana. The state legal limit is 0.08 percent.

Because Duarte was 17 at the time of the crash, he could have been adjudicated as a juvenile.

But Wong, who is state Family Court senior judge, waived jurisdiction, allowing prosecutors to charge Duarte as an adult. However, she continued to preside over the case.