A police officer, a 4-year-old child and two other
people were taken to a hospital Wednesday after speeding contributed to a crash that caused several collisions on Farrington Highway in Nanakuli, according to the Honolulu
Police Department.
At about 8:40 a.m., a critical multivehicle collision
occurred on Farrington Highway near Helelua Street in Nanakuli, police said. At least one vehicle was towed away from the scene, according to police.
HPD’s Traffic Division said an HPD officer was driving west on Farrington Highway when a 73-year-old man driving east tried to make a left turn onto Helelua Street, crossed into the lane of the HPD officer and was hit.
The officer’s patrol car was sent into the eastbound lanes where it “collided head-on with an eastbound vehicle operated by a 31-year-old male motorist, who was traveling with a 30-year-old female passenger and a juvenile passenger,” according to police.
The car driven by the 31-year-old man then hit a car driven by a 36-year-old man before colliding with another vehicle driven by a 39-year-old woman, who had two children on board.
The HPD officer and the 30-year-old female passenger from the third vehicle were transported to a hospital in serious condition, police said.
The officer’s age was not given as HPD no longer provides officers’ ages. The injured officer is assigned to patrol District 8 and has been with the department for 1-1/2 years.
“The juvenile passenger from the third vehicle was taken to an area hospital in good condition. No other injuries were reported,” read a statement from HPD. “The 30-year-old female passenger was later determined to be in critical condition.”
Honolulu Emergency Medical Services said paramedics treated a 4-year-old boy and took him to a hospital in stable condition. EMS also said paramedics took three adults — including two men and a woman, all in their 30s — to the hospital in serious condition.
The 73-year-old man was evaluated at the scene and declined transport, EMS said.
Honolulu police closed Farrington Highway in both directions near Helelua Street while emergency
personnel responded and
police investigated. The closure clogged West Oahu traffic for several hours.
Speed is a “contributing factor” in the crash but drugs and alcohol do not appear to have played a role, police said, without specifying who may have been speeding.
Honolulu police Chief
Arthur “Joe” Logan, speaking to Honolulu police commissioners during their meeting Wednesday afternoon, said the “young“ officer was responding to a call for service when the collision happened.
Logan visited him in the hospital and told commissioners he was awaiting a
final report on whether he would be hospitalized
overnight.
“He’s in great spirits. He’s got some bruises and some other things … just a great young officer, fairly new, but unfortunately involved in a motor vehicle collision while responding to a case,” said Logan, who lauded the officer’s resilience. “He says he’ll be back at work tomorrow … I give him kudos.”
There have been 6,233 vehicle collisions on Oahu so far this year, 1,141 of them classified as major. Eighteen people have been killed, according to HPD statistics. A major collision results in death, injury or damage to property in excess of $3,000, according to police.
A second major collision with multiple injuries happened Wednesday afternoon at an intersection near downtown Honolulu, injuring five people and sending two of the them to a hospital, according EMS.
At about 12:50 p.m., EMS personnel responded to the crash at Punchbowl Street and Vineyard Boulevard. Paramedics treated a 41-year-old woman for injuries and took her to a hospital in serious condition, while a 68-year-old woman was taken to a hospital in stable condition.
The others involved in the collision — a 67-year old woman, an 8-year-old girl and a 3-year-old girl — were all in stable condition and did not require a trip to the hospital.
