HONOLULU — A 57-year-old Lanai woman who was struck by a pickup truck Thursday was the first pedestrian killed in at least 10 years on the Pineapple Island, and only the second person killed in a traffic crash there since 2010.
The island has no traffic light and only 30 miles of paved roadways.
“I did five years on Lanai, so when I saw that notification, I thought, ‘How is that possible?’, ” Maui Police Department acting spokesman Sgt. John Sang said.
A 2018 Ford pickup truck, driven by a 55-year-old Lanai man, struck and killed the woman at about 12:10 p.m. Thursday while she was crossing the street in tiny Lanai City, police said.
Police identified the woman as Christine Sandi.
A preliminary investigation revealed Sandi was legally within the roadway, crossing Lanai Avenue from west to east, when the pickup truck, headed north on Lanai Avenue, hit her 10 feet north of Sixth Street, police said.
She was taken with critical life-threatening injuries to Lanai Community Hospital, where she died.
The driver was uninjured.
Police are still investigating the collision and have not yet determined whether speed, drugs or alcohol were involved.
This was Maui County’s 20th traffic fatality of 2019, compared with 16 the same time last year.
The last person to die in a car crash on Lanai was 34-year-old Natasha Jenkins on Sept. 4, 2016. The Lanai woman was the lone occupant of a Toyota Corolla sedan when she veered off the roadway at 3:18 a.m., hit an embankment and was ejected from the vehicle. The car rolled over several times and landed on top of her. She was driving on Keo Moku Road at the 6.8 mile marker. Her friends were following her, but did not witness the accident, and found her under the vehicle, police said.
Sgt. Sang recalled a fatal single-vehicle crash in 2005, while he was stationed on Lanai, which predates MPD’s current database system.
Sang looked at data on “major” vehicle crashes on Lanai over the past year and none involved injuries to humans.
Man held in death of alleged trespasser in Kalihi
HONOLULU — A 50-year-old man allegedly shot and killed a teenage boy — part of a group of apparent intruders — just outside Kalihi Valley Homes late Thursday night, the second fatal shooting in or near the housing project in less than a month.
Attorney Michael Green, who received a request from an area lawmaker to represent the alleged gunman, said that initial information he received indicates three or four males repeatedly climbed or jumped over a fence between Kalihi Valley Homes and the man’s property on Kula Kolea Drive.
Green said police responded earlier in the night and told the males to leave. When officers left, the males returned a third time, according to Green.
“They were clearly trespassing,” said Green, who had not been formally retained as the alleged gunman’s attorney as of Friday evening.
Police returned to the property, responding to a suspicious circumstances call at 2401 Kula Kolea Drive at about 11 p.m. Responding officers determined that the man shot multiple times at a group of males in his yard.
The alleged gunman is listed as one of the homeowners of the Kula Kolea Drive residence.
The teen, age 15 or 16, was found at an address on Kalena Drive, in Kalihi Valley Homes, a short distance from the suspected shooter’s home, by Emergency Medical Services personnel responding to a call shortly after 11 p.m.
He had a gunshot wound to the torso and was taken in critical condition to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Positive identification is pending.
Shortly after 11:15 p.m., police arrested the alleged gunman at or near 2401 Kula Kolea Drive on suspicion of first-degree murder. The investigation is ongoing.
This is the second fatal shooting at or near the public housing complex in less than four weeks.
“We are working with police. We’re trying to find out what happened, ” said Sarah Beamer, compliance specialist of the Hawaii Public Housing Authority, the state agency that manages Kalihi Valley Homes.
Hakim Ouansafi, executive director of the authority, could not be reached for comment.
Last month, an Oahu grand jury indicted 24-year-old Leri Robert on charges of second-degree murder in the Oct. 14 shooting death of 20-year-old Kerry Lewi at Kalihi Valley Homes.
Lewi died from a gunshot wound to the torso after Robert allegedly shot him near 2336 Kalaunu St. Police said the two men were acquaintances.
Robert is slated to go to trial in January and remains in custody at the Oahu Community Correctional Center in lieu of $1 million bail.
Ikaika Hussey, a member of the Kalihi Valley Neighborhood Board, said board members will likely discuss the recent shootings at a 7 p.m. board meeting on Wednesday at the Kaewai Elementary School cafeteria.
Stories courtesy The Honolulu Star-Advertiser
