Single-car crash kills driver on H-1

An Ewa Beach woman died of injuries suffered in a one-vehicle crash on the H-1 freeway Waianae-bound just before the Kunia offramp yesterday morning.

Police said the woman, 24, was thrown from a 2002 Toyota Tacoma pickup truck at about 4:20 a.m. when it ran up a steep embankment on the right shoulder of the freeway and flipped several times on the way back down.

The woman was initially taken to Hawaii Medical Center West and transferred to the Queen’s Medical Center in critical condition, police said. She died at about 10:35 a.m.

The road was wet from rain, and alcohol may have been a factor, police said. It did not appear that the woman was wearing a seat belt, police said. She was the only person in the truck.

The death was the 61st on Oahu roads this year. There were 55 recorded in all of 2009.

Help sought to ID drowning victim

The city Medical Examiner’s Office is asking for the public’s help in identifying a man who drowned off Diamond Head Thursday.

The man appears to be of Asian ancestry, possibly Japanese, and in his 30s or 40s. He is about 5 feet 7 and 170 pounds with a tan complexion and short black hair that was beginning to gray at the temple area.

He had a circular indentation about the size of a pencil eraser on his left cheek and a large, crescent-shaped scar on the outer side of his left thigh. He was wearing a black plastic choker-style necklace and white board shorts with yellow and black print. He also had on black tabis, a snorkel and mask.

Anyone with information on this case is asked to call the medical examiner at 768-3090.

Autopsies inconclusive

HILO » Autopsies performed yesterday on two bodies found at a Kilauea Avenue house failed to determine exactly what caused the victims to die.

The pathologist has deferred a determination of death for Jon P. Gizewski, 44, and Jackie Lynn Baker, 49, pending the receipt of toxicology results.

Big Island detectives again said they do not suspect foul play.

The two lived in different parts of what appears to be a rooming house, and there was no evidence to support that they had an intimate relationship, said Lt. Gregory Esteban, of the Criminal Investigation Section.

He withheld comment on whether drugs could have played a role in either death.

At about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, patrol officers and paramedics responded to the 1200 block of Kilauea Avenue after an acquaintance of the man reported that he was unresponsive. The body was found in the lower portion of the residence.

Authorities discovered the woman’s body in another room, Esteban said.