Drivers injured in 3-vehicle highway crash
A 58-year-old Aiea man critically injured in a multivehicle crash on Kamehameha Highway in Waimalu on Thursday afternoon may have suffered from a medical condition that could have contributed to the accident, police said.
The man was driving a silver 2008 Jeep Commander east on Kamehameha Highway. When entering the intersection with Hekaha Street at about 12:35 p.m., he swerved into the westbound lane, clipping the left rear of a brown 2003 Toyota Corolla headed west, police said.
The Jeep continued in the westbound lanes and broadsided a white 2003 Dodge Neon sedan, pushing it into a bus stop, injuring the driver, a 65-year-old woman from Waianae.
Police said the three drivers, none of whom had passengers, were taken to the Queen’s Medical Center. The Neon driver was reported in serious condition, while the Toyota driver, a 36-year-old Mililani woman, was in good condition.
Honolulu police shut down the westbound lanes of Kamehameha Highway just west of Hekaha Street for about four hours, a Honolulu Police Department dispatch supervisor said.
Arcades hit by searches, seizures, arrests
Vice officers arrested six employees at the Lucky Touch arcades Thursday and seized 22 alleged gambling devices.
Police executed search warrants at six locations of the arcade chain in Aiea, Kalihi and the Keeaumoku Street area.
Police said the six people were arrested on suspicion of a total of 72 counts of felony and misdemeanor gambling offenses. Alleged gambling records also were seized.
Worker arrested in theft from hotel guests
Maui police charged a houseman at a Wailea resort with second-degree theft after security video allegedly showed him taking items from a guest’s luggage.
John D. Bueno was arrested Monday afternoon, charged and released on $1,000 bail, police said. He is scheduled to be in court March 14.
A couple from Marysville, Mich., arrived at the Grand Wailea Resort at about 1:20 p.m. Monday and left their bags with a bellman while they waited for their room, police said. The visitors later discovered that pieces of jewelry and a camera worth a total of $11,100 were missing from their luggage.
Police said security video showed Bueno take the bags from a storeroom and return them a few minutes later. Police arrested him at about 3:40 p.m. at the hotel.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Truck strikes, injures cyclist
A 69-year-old bicyclist was critically injured Thursday when a pickup truck hit him from behind in Kekaha.
Kauai police said a Kekaha man was riding a bicycle west on the westbound shoulder of Kaumualii Highway when a truck hit him at about 7:30 a.m. near the Akialoa Road junction. The bicyclist was wearing a helmet. The truck driver, a 33-year-old Koloa man, was not injured.
Emergency personnel took the bicyclist to Kauai Veterans Memorial Hospital in critical condition. He was then flown to the Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu.
Police closed the westbound lane of the highway for more than two hours, while the eastbound lane remained open to alternating traffic flow.
Motorist gets 15-year term
A state judge sentenced a Hawaii island man to 15 years in prison for a drunken-driving crash in South Kona that killed a Kealakekua woman and injured two others in 2010.
West Hawaii Today reported that Robert William Smith Jr., 28, of Ocean View was sentenced Tuesday to the maximum prison term. Circuit Judge Ronald Ibarra ordered him to serve consecutive terms of 10 years in prison for first-degree negligent homicide and five years for habitually operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated.
Smith was ordered to pay $2,775 in fees, fines and restitution.
The prosecutor said Smith had a blood-alcohol content of .101 on Aug. 1, 2010, when his car crossed the centerline of Hawaii Belt Road near mile marker 88 and hit an oncoming car driven by Stella Corona, 31, of Kealakekua. Corona was killed and her two passengers injured.
