Norman Salva struggled to speak about the driver who hit and killed his wife near her apartment Tuesday night before fleeing.
He wondered if his wife could have gotten help sooner if the driver had stopped.
"I never see my wife (before she died)," said Salva, 40. "I want him to surrender."
Salva said his wife was walking across Kamehameha Highway to her night job as a clerk at Aloha gas station.
She got the job about a month ago, he said, because the kids were getting older and she could work at night while he was home from his produce job at a supermarket.
Salva was hit in a crosswalk near Pahia Road, about a block from home.
Jonathan Agosto, 25, said he was sitting outside Fresh Catch restaurant looking in the direction of the crosswalk when he saw the driver hit the woman, throwing her about 50 feet into a wooden light pole.
"She ricocheted off the pole and landed on the ground," he said. "She never move from there."
He said the driver, an older man with glasses, didn’t slow down, and Agosto ran into the street after the car.
Agosto thought the driver was going to come back when the driver pulled into a parking lot, but then the driver returned to Kamehameha Highway and took off, continuing in the same direction. He got the license plate number and gave it to police, he said.
"He should be in jail for life," he said. "Sad, too."
He said the woman was eating something just before the crash and not paying attention as she crossed the street, but that the driver should have slowed at the crosswalk.
"Pretty much they both wasn’t paying attention," he said.
Jason Boyd, who was working at Kaneohe Pawn at the time, heard a "boom" and went out to help the lady lying on the street.
He said he was talking to her to keep her awake.
"Little by little, I could see the life out of her, kind of going," he said.
Boyd said he tried to get Salva to talk, but that she was unresponsive.
Salva was taken to Castle Medical Center, where she died of blunt force injuries Tuesday night.
A police spokeswoman said no arrests were made Wednesday.
Jonell Ramos, a bar back at Moe-Joe’s Sports Bar & Grill, said she was hanging out with friends in front of Fresh Catch on Kamehameha Highway when she saw the vehicle hit Salva.
She said the vehicle was traveling 40 to 45 mph in a 25 mph zone.
"This car was flying," she said, adding there were no brake marks on the roadway.
Norman Salva said he didn’t know anything had happened until he went to his wife’s workplace at about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday because she never came home.
"She’s so good, loving, caring," he said. "She’s No. 1."
The Salvas were married in the Philippines more than 20 years ago.
She was looking forward to a trip back to see her parents on Aug. 20, her husband said.
Her son Samshin, 16, recalled how his mom always laughed at his dad’s jokes.
"She was amazing," he said. "They really love each other. Her cooking was the best. Her smile was beautiful."
He acknowledged his fury with the driver for fleeing.
"It’s wrong what you did," he said, as if speaking directly to the driver. "Why would you leave my mom on the floor bleeding to death? Help her, call 911, not just watch her and run away."
He said his mother usually took another crosswalk with a stoplight and warned him about being careful while crossing the street.
Now he remembers the last time he saw his mother was the night of the crash when he thanked her for a snack.
Besides her husband and son, Salva is also survived by her daughter Shaira, 18, and son Cedrick, 2.
Lani Pei, a neighbor of Salva’s, said she was always smiling.
"She was really nice," she said. "Soft-spoken, friendly."
Some Kaneohe business owners want the city to install a traffic signal at the crosswalk in question.
"I’ve seen so many accidents," said Louisa Sawinski, owner of the Shell Gas Station & Food Mart across the street from where Salva was killed.
The city Department of Transportation Services has been conducting test projects at designated unsignalized pedestrian crossings on Oahu to determine the effectiveness of different types of pedestrian signage and flashing lights.
Director Wayne Yoshioka said the crosswalk near Pahia Road could potentially qualify as a candidate for flashing lights depending on the outcome of the project.
Boyd, of Kaneohe Pawn, said a traffic light or pedestrian flashing lights are necessary because a lot of children and senior citizens use the crosswalk.
"Anything would be good at this point," he said.
Bill Sager, secretary of the Kaneohe Neighborhood Board, said residents have brought up concerns about the crosswalk.
"It is recognized as an extremely dangerous crossing," he said. "We have to do something."