Kauai highway crash kills baby girl

A 14-month-old girl died on Kauai in a three-car chain-reaction crash at about 2:20 p.m. yesterday on Kaumualii Highway near Dynasty Court.

No one else sustained injuries.

All three vehicles were eastbound on the highway when the first vehicle, a county pickup truck, came to a stop, Kauai County officials said. The vehicle behind the truck, a PT Cruiser, also came to a stop.

The girl was a passenger in a Nissan Pathfinder that rear-ended the PT Cruiser, which then rear-ended the truck, officials said.

Kaumualii Highway between Kalepa Street and Nuhou Road was closed with eastbound traffic redirected to Nuhou Road and westbound traffic diverted to Kalepa Street.

Passenger charged in wake of chase

Mickel J. Juliano, 42, of Waipahu was charged yesterday with unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle after a car chase Saturday ended with the shooting of the driver of an allegedly stolen Honda Accord by a state sheriff’s deputy.

Juliano was released on $2,000 bail.

The deputy spotted the stolen car on Lagoon Drive near Honolulu Airport, which led to a car chase and shooting that ended yesterday at the H-1 freeway westbound offramp in Kunia. Juliano, a passenger in the car, was unhurt. He was arrested at the offramp.

A sheriff’s deputy saw a green Honda Accord with two people inside commit an undisclosed traffic violation near Waiwai Loop at about 8:50 a.m. Saturday, said Dan Meisenzahl, state Department of Transportation spokesman.

The deputy called in the license plate and learned the car had been reported stolen, Meisenzahl said. The deputy tried to stop the car, but the driver fled, he said. The deputy pursued in his marked cruiser.

Twelve miles from the airport, the Accord came to a stop in the middle of the offramp. A struggle between the deputy sheriff and the driver carried over into some brush along the shoulder of the offramp. A knife and bloody clothing were recovered nearby.

Paramedics took a man in serious condition to a hospital, Emergency Medical Services said. The deputy, who fired his weapon, was taken with minor injuries to a hospital.

Rescuers save 2 from Moanalua trail

Honolulu Fire Department rescue personnel rescued two hikers who were injured in separate incidents yesterday on the Moanalua Valley trail.

The first emergency call, at 8:40 a.m., involved a woman in her 60s who had fallen about 10 feet on the trail and sustained multiple minor injuries. Rescue personnel found the woman about three-quarters of a mile into the valley and were able to transport her out on a stretcher.

A woman in her 40s was injured hours later in a fall near the intersection with the Koolau Summit Trail. A rescue helicopter transported the woman to the landing pad at Tripler Army Medical Center, where she was transferred to the care of Emergency Medical Services.