cjensen@westhawaiitoday.com
BY CHELSEA JENSEN | WEST HAWAII TODAY
A 42-year-old Holualoa woman is dead after her pickup was crushed when a utility truck turned on its side Thursday morning on Kaiminani Drive in Kailua-Kona.
Around 9:30 a.m. a westbound Leleiwi Electric Inc. utility truck’s bucket lift apparently snagged a utility line that caused the truck to flip on its side and slide down the road several yards before striking a silver 2011 Ford F250, said Hawaii Police Department Sgt. Raymond Childers.
The silver pickup truck was traveling east and had nearly come to a stop about 150 feet west of Kaiminani Drive’s intersection with Ane Keohokalole Highway when the utility truck’s bucket lift crushed the pickup, he said.
The woman driving the truck and her two passengers were transported to Kona Community Hospital, he said. The driver, identified by police as Sheila Goto, was pronounced dead at 12:22 p.m.
Goto was pinned in the vehicle and had to be extricated. She and one of the passengers were wearing seat belts, according to police.
The passengers, a 37-year-old man and a 54-year-old woman, both of Kailua-Kona, were able to get out of the vehicle and were walking prior to being taken to the hospital where they were treated for their injuries and released, according to police.
A 42-year-old man driving the utility truck was also able to get out of his vehicle, Childers said. He was mobile and talking prior to being transported to the hospital with a possible head injury. He remains hospitalized in stable condition.
According to police, he was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash.
Kaiminani Drive, between Laui Street and Ane Keohokalole Highway, was closed for nearly six hours while police investigated and cleared the accident. It reopened around 3:30 p.m.
A negligent homicide investigation has been initiated in connection with the crash and an autopsy has been ordered to determine the exact cause of death, according to police.
Anyone with information on the crash should call Officer Thomas Koyanagi at 326-4646, ext. 229.
This is the first traffic fatality on public Big Island roadways this year, according to police. At this time in 2011, four fatalities were recorded.
cjensen@westhawaiitoday.com