A 21-year-old man was in police custody Sunday in connection with a hit-and-run crash that killed a 57-year-old woman and injured a 13-year-old girl in Makaha.
Friends and neighbors identified the victim as Gail Peeples, who apparently also spells her name Gayle, and said the girl was Peeples’ granddaughter.
Police arrested the 21-year-old at his Manuku Street home in Makaha about an hour after the crash. He was booked on suspicion of first-degree negligent homicide, fleeing the scene of a crash, and operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant.
Police said the crash occurred about 5 a.m. on Farrington Highway, in front of Keaau Beach Park.
The driver was heading Honolulu-bound on Farrington when he drove off the roadway’s makai side and hit a woman and a girl walking outside the road. The driver fled the scene, heading toward Honolulu.
Police said Peeples died at the scene, while the girl was taken to the hospital in serious condition.
Peeples died across the street from where she lived with her husband and grandchildren.
A neighbor of the suspect said the man kept to himself and seemed "cool." He was surprised to hear why the man had been arrested. A man at the suspect’s home declined to comment.
Lanny Moore, co-founder of the no-kill animal shelter Friends for Life, which overlooks Keaau Beach Park, said he let Peeples and her family live on the property after they were rousted from the beach park about three years ago.
He said Peeples was an "awesome grandmother" who with her husband took care of six or seven grandchildren.
"I can’t speak highly enough about her," Moore said. "She made sure the kids were disciplined, clean, loved and educated."
Joseph Pinero, who lives on Farrington, said he heard a loud bang that he thought was a vehicle striking another vehicle. He heard tires squealing and looked out a window to see a car going off the side of the road.
The driver apparently tried to regain control after hitting Peeples. Tire tracks show the vehicle went down a hill and around a tree before returning to the road.
Pinero went outside and saw Peeples face down with her feet near the yellow center line.
"She was just lying down and the girl that was with her was screaming and screaming … ‘Get up, grandma!’" he said. "She was gone already."
Shelaine Alimoot, a Wai- anae resident who knew Peeples, said she was a "sweet … angel-like lady."
A camper at the beach park said he heard Peeples was heading to prison to visit her son.
