As news of the triple pedestrian fatality in Kakaako spread rapidly Monday, Malia Rao did as so many others did that evening: She called friends and family who frequent the area to make sure they were safe.
On Wednesday, Rao made her way to the corner of Ala Moana Boulevard and Kamakee Street, at the western end of Ala Moana Regional Park, just across the street from the small traffic island where a truck driven by a 27-year-old man plowed into a crowd of people, killing three and injuring five others. There she and her 1-year-old son Manu joined about 100 other concerned residents to commemorate the lives lost and to offer a visual reminder to those passing about the dangers that exist on and around Hawaii’s roadways.
About the time Rao and others were arriving at the vigil, prosecutors were charging the driver, Alins Sumang, with three counts of manslaughter in the deaths of Reino Ikeda, 47, of Japan; William Travis Lau, 39, of Honolulu; and Casimir Pokorny, 26, of Pennsylvania. The charges, class-A felonies that carry a sentence of up to 20 years, had been pending Sumang’s release from the hospital for injuries sustained in the crash. He may face further charges depending on the condition of the other victims.
Police said Sumang was apparently speeding and under the influence of alcohol when the Ford F-150 pickup truck he was operating crossed three lanes of traffic, drove over a concrete island, plowing into six pedestrians standing on the traffic island, and struck a traffic light pole. The truck continued on, eventually hitting another pickup truck that was stopped to make a right turn onto Ala Moana, critically injuring its 41-year-old male driver.
Police say Sumang was earlier seen speeding and weaving in and out of traffic and hitting parked cars near Makaloa and Amana streets prior to the crash. A police officer reportedly followed the truck until he could no longer keep up with it.
On Wednesday, a makeshift memorial adorned with flowers stood in the spot where the victims had been waiting for the traffic signal to change to cross the street. The crash occurred around 6:30 p.m., when the area is typically packed with pedestrians traveling to and from the beach park, bus stops in the area, and the Ward Village shops and restaurants.
“It could have been anybody,” said Rao, 41, of Manoa. “That could have been my husband. This is such a sad loss of life. I feel for the families of the victims.”
Family, friends grieve in Pennsylvania
Known to his friends simply as “Cas,” Pokorny loved photography and recorded music personally and professionally. A graduate of Temple University, where he majored in audio engineering, Pokorny worked as a senior videographer for Creative Outfit Inc., a company based in Villanova, Pa.
Pokorny had been vacationing in Hawaii with his longtime girlfriend, Eva Mascaro. They spent time whale-watching, hiking and sightseeing with friends. His mother, Gail Garin, said the couple had gone hiking earlier on Monday and that Mascaro and two friends were with him at the time of the crash.
Garin said Mascaro had tried to call her but her phone was off. Instead, she learned of her son’s death from local police who arrived at her door.
“He’s my only son,” said Garin in a phone interview from Pennsylvania Wednesday. “It’s hard to believe that he’s gone,”
Garin described her son as smart, creative and friendly with an easy-going smile.
“He was very sweet and had a good sense of humor,” she added. Garin recalled how her son always told her he loved her at the end of every phone call.
Garin said several of her son’s friends visited on Wednesday and spent the day sharing memories. They described him as the keystone of their group.
Pokorny was planning to return to Pennsylvania Tuesday and fly to Utah Friday to attend the 2019 Sundance Film Festival for work. “He would’ve been back today already,” Garin said.
Of the driver who slammed into her son and other pedestrians, Garin said, “He’s 27, just a year older than my son. This guy ruined his own life and ruined other people’s lives in the process.
“I feel sad that this young person has ruined his life and ruined so many other people’s lives. (I’m) heartsick about that and heartsick about my son.”
A host of issues
At Wednesday’s vigil, amid scores of signs urging people to drive with caution and share the road with pedestrians and cyclists, Jessica Lani Rich carried a large sign bearing a photo of Pokorny that Garin had provided.
“She can’t be here but I told (Garin) that I would carry a sign in loving memory of her son,” said Rich, the president and CEO of the Visitor Aloha Society of Hawaii, an organization that provides help to visitors affected by crime or other serious situations while in Hawaii. “She told me that he had been sending her pictures from his vacation. He was having the time of his life.”
The vigil was organized by the Hawaii Bicycling League, which encouraged attendees to track and support legislation that focuses on pedestrian safety. Officers from the Honolulu Police Department’s Traffic Division and District 1 Community Policing unit also participated in the gathering.
Noelle Wright, 29, was in the nearby Waiea apartment building on Ala Moana Boulevard when she heard a commotion from the street below. She looked down in horror to see the aftermath of the crash and the first responders rushing to help.
Wright herself lives just blocks away from the crash site and is a regular witness to the near-misses that occur within an area heavily traveled by visitors, residents and cars.
She said solutions to the recent spate of pedestrian deaths should be multipronged and include a review of police policies regarding pedestrian traffic, more balanced reporting by the local news media with regard to drivers versus pedestrians, and improved infrastructure.
Brent Tamamoto, a 41-year-old pediatrician from Aiea, attended the vigil in memory of Lau, his older brother’s ‘Iolani School classmate and a longtime friend.
“He was always confident, always friendly,” Tamamoto said of the Honolulu anesthesiologist. “I feel real sadness for his family and for the community. Any life lost is a tragedy but he just can’t be replaced.”
Like Wright and others who attended the vigil, Tamamoto said the incident raises a number of issues about pedestrian and driver safety, strategies to prevent impaired driving, and the disposition of those with a history of crime and substance abuse.
Nearly three years prior to the day of the crash, Sumang had threatened a man with a knife in the parking garage of his Makiki apartment building, an incident that resulted in a conviction for first-degree terroristic threatening.
Star-Advertiser reporters Rosemarie Bernardo and Leila Fujimori contributed to this report.
