A man in his 50s was killed early Friday after he was struck by two vehicles on Kamehameha Highway near the airport viaduct, according to a witness.

The Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office did not release the pedestrian’s identification Friday.

Vanda Meheula, who spotted the injured man shortly after the initial crash and walked to the scene, tried to stop another vehicle from running over the pedestrian as he lay in the dark roadway, she said. The second driver failed to respond to her waving a flashlight in the middle of the road, ran over the man’s head and continued driving, said Meheula, who is homeless.

“I was hopeless,” said Meheula, who lives in the bushes near the highway. “There was nothing I could do.”

Police did not mention the second vehicle, but said the man had been walking on the highway when a motorist heading Ewa hit him at about 1:30 a.m., just before the Kakoi Street intersection. The pedestrian died at the scene.

Police said the driver, who stopped, may have been speeding.

The crash happened near where an offramp from the H-1 freeway and Nimitz Highway merge with Kamehameha Highway.

Meheula said she was on a bike path adjacent to the highway when she heard the crash and walked onto the highway to see what happened. She said the driver of a VIP Trans van had pulled over to call police. Meheula said the damage to the van’s front end made it appear as though it had struck a pole.

When Meheula walked up the road to see what the driver hit, she saw the pedestrian on the roadway. After approaching, she recognized him as a homeless person she had seen pushing three wagons from place to place in the area.

Before she could check on the man’s condition, the second vehicle appeared on the highway, and she began waving her flashlight while standing in front of the man’s body in the third lane from the right. The area was dark because the streetlights were out, and the approaching driver didn’t appear to see flashlight, Meheula said.

She said she jumped to the side at the last second before the pedestrian was hit the second time. “I knew that there was no way he could live,” she said.

Fearing that approaching police officers would strike the body again, the woman flagged them down as they approached.

Meheula said she spoke with the driver of the van, who told her he had no idea what he hit and said he saw only a black shadow fly across his windshield.

The man’s death marked the 41st traffic fatality this year on Oahu compared with 50 at this time last year.

The last pedestrian fatality, before Friday’s, occurred Oct. 3 on Kamehameha Highway in Haleiwa. Police said a driver left the roadway and struck the pedestrian, who died at the scene.

The Medical Examiner’s Office said Friday that the man has been identified, but officials were awaiting notification of next of kin before releasing his name.