A 15-year-old boy who was driving a car that struck a pole, killing him and a passenger in Hau'ula early Saturday, was legally drunk, according to police and the office of the city medical examiner.

Pepe Naupoto, a resident of a Dallas suburb who was in Ho-nolulu doing construction work for a family business, had a blood alcohol level of .083 percent when he died, according to results of a preliminary toxicology test released yesterday. The legal limit in Hawai'i is .08, meaning 8 parts alcohol per 10,000 parts blood in the body.

But as a minor, Naupoto should not have been drinking at all, police said, and investigators want to know how he got the alcohol.

Naupoto, who was speeding and did not have a driver's license, did not have drugs in his system, police said.

Olini Maile, Pepe Naupoto's aunt, said she had no idea where he could have obtained alcohol, but she's trying to find out from one of the survivors of the crash who is also a nephew. Naupoto had been staying with Maile for about three months.

"We didn't know he was drinking," Maile said yesterday.

She said Naupoto was caught drinking once before and punished when he first arrived, but he hadn't given them any trouble since.

Alithia Ah Nee, 16, who was killed in the crash with Naupoto, had not been drinking, the medical examiner's office said.

Naupoto lost control of the car as it rounded a turn past Kokololio Bridge on Kamehameha Highway and slammed into a utility pole at 4:20 a.m. Three other teenagers in the vehicle were injured.

HOURS LATER, MORE DIE

Then, at 10:45 that night, 10 to 15 teenagers who knew Naupoto and Ah Nee were standing or sitting on the side of the road, paying respects and setting up a makeshift memorial, police said.

A car driven by a 21-year-old woman, who police say was speeding, went out of control around the turn, crossed into the opposite lane and struck the mourners.

Killed in that crash were Benson Orem Kauvaka, 16, and Summer-Lynn Mau, 19.

Traffic investigators opened two negligent homicide cases and two negligent injury cases in connection with that crash and are waiting for the hospitalized driver to recover before questioning her, police said.

Investigators are awaiting a toxicology test results to determine whether the woman had been drinking or using drugs before the crash. Her relatives told investigators alcohol was not involved, police said.

The crashes are notable because both drivers were speeding, police said, and both lost control on the same turn, crossed over into the opposite lane and crashed in almost the same spot.

Detectives are questioning the teens who survived the first crash about how Naupoto came to be driving the car, police said.

The Honda had been taken without permission, according to Shana Logan, the mother of the car's owner, her 16-year-old son. She declined to identify her son by name.

But Logan stopped short of saying the vehicle was stolen.

"So these kids just decided to take a joy ride, and I don't think it was malicious at all," she said. "It was a stupid, really unfortunate decision on their part."

Logan, a Punalu'u resident, said her 16-year-old son that morning went to a friend's home in Hau'ula, where he met Naupoto and the others who were later involved in the crash.

The keys were left in the ignition because her son didn't expect to stay long, she said, and someone sped away with the car.

"I don't want the kids to be demonized for taking the car because it was a stupid act," Logan said. "I don't believe they were criminals."

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.