Soldier hit by car on H-2 is identified

The Army has identified the 21-year-old soldier who was critically injured after he was hit by a car early Thursday as Pfc. Jesse O. Hart.

Hart, a member of Company A, 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry, had returned to Schofield Barracks in February after spending 15 months in Iraq with the 25th Infantry Division's 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team.

He is in the Queen's Medical Center in critical condition with head and possible other internal injuries. He was hit by a car while walking on the H-2 freeway at about 12:25 a.m. Thursday after being dropped off after an argument.

Kamuela man arrested after accident

A 20-year-old Kamuela man was arrested Thursday after he got into a fight with Big Island police and firefighters after being involved in a three-vehicle accident in Waikoloa.

Kahiliokeanuinu Puaalani Peleiholani had to be flown to the Queen's Medical Center for treatment, where Big Island police say he is in critical condition.

Big Island police said Peleiholani was driving a 1995 Toyota pickup truck and traveling north on Queen Kaahumanu Highway when he made a left turn from the northbound lane to Mauna Lani Drive and collided with a 2006 Ford van traveling south. Peleiholani's truck then struck a 2007 Hyundai van that was stopped in the left turn lane on the highway.

After Peleiholani was freed from his vehicle by Fire Department personnel, police said, he started fighting with firefighters and police officers. During the struggle, one of the officers was assaulted, police said.

Big Island fire rescue personnel took Peleiholani to North Hawaii Community Hospital, where he was arrested and released pending further investigation and flown to Queen's. The driver of the Ford van, a 56-year-old man, and his passenger, a 35-year-old man, both of Kailua-Kona, were listed in serious condition at North Hawaii Community Hospital. The occupants of the Hyundai van were not injured. The police officer was treated and released from North Hawaii Community Hospital.

Dropped concrete nearly hits vehicle

Police arrested a 38-year-old Moiliili man who allegedly dropped a large piece of concrete from a pedestrian walkway onto a roadway below on Thursday, nearly striking a moving vehicle.

The driver of that vehicle saw the man get on a city bus and reported it to police after the 8:58 a.m. incident.

Police would not specify the road or the location of the incident.

Police stopped the bus and the man was identified and arrested at 9:13 a.m. on suspicion of first-degree reckless endangering.