Woman sentenced for DUI wreck that closed Palani Road for hours

KAILUA-KONA — A woman was sentenced to community service for a drunken driving wreck that closed Palani Road for nearly 16 hours earlier this fall.

Chasity A. Alcosiba as part of a plea deal with prosecutors pleaded no contest to one count driving under the influence of an intoxicant in connection with the Oct. 2 crash in North Kona.

Alcosiba was sentenced Nov. 13 by Kona District Court Judge Margaret Masunaga to 72 hours of community service and referred to complete substance abuse assessment and treatment, a substance abuse rehab program and driver’s education. She was also ordered to pay $157 in fees.

Her license was also revoked by the Administrative Driver’s License Revocation Office, court records show.

The crash, reported at 12:45 a.m. Oct. 2 on the curve near Makua Lani Christian Academy, also knocked out power to about 1,500 Hawaii Electric Light Co. customers in the area, a Hawaii Electric Light Co. spokeswoman said. Power wasn’t restored to all of those impacted until 2:45 p.m.

Alcosiba was driving the makai-bound vehicle when it apparently veered off the roadway and struck a utility pole, causing it to fall across the main thoroughfare, according to police. She was the lone occupant in the vehicle at the time of the crash and no injuries were reported.

Alcosiba was also arrested in August in connection with the 2017 death of a 3-year-old foster child.

Hawaii Police officers took Alcosiba into custody on Aug. 15 on a warrant for arrest for second-degree murder in the death of Fabian Garett-Garcia. After her arrest, police contacted the Prosecutor’s Office, which declined to press charges against Alcosiba at the time. She was then released from custody.

The Office of the County Prosecutor said Friday it had yet to get the case. No indictments had been handed down in the case as of Friday, a check of the state court records system showed.

Fabian was pronounced dead July 25, 2017, at North Hawaii Community Hospital in Waimea after police and medics responded to a foster home in Waimea where the child was found not breathing.

A forensic pathologist determined this summer the cause of death to be “blunt force trauma to the head” and the manner of death “non-accidental head trauma.”