Victim of Kona crash identified
Advertiser Staff
A Kailua, Kona, man who died Saturday after a pickup- truck crash on Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway that left two other men in critical condition has been identified as Thomas Keliinohomoku, 19.
The driver of the vehicle, Liko Asing of Kailua, Kona, was arrested on suspicion of negligent homicide, operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant and other counts. He was released pending further investigation because of his medical condition, police said.
Big Island officers said the crash may have been the result of a high-speed chase with another vehicle.
According to Kona patrol officers, Keliinohomoku was a passenger in a 2004 Toyota pickup headed south that crashed at 12:58 a.m. Saturday, near the 95-mile marker, after overtaking another vehicle at high speed.
Three occupants — Asing and another male passenger who was riding in the bed of the truck with Keliinohomoku — were ejected. The three were taken in critical condition to Kona Community Hospital by fire rescue personnel, and Keliinohomoku died at 3:50 a.m.
Sgt. Christopher Gali, the Big Island police Traffic Enforcement Unit supervisor, identified Keliinohomoku yesterday.
Police said the three men in the pickup may have been involved in an altercation with four men in a 2004 Ford pickup truck at a gas station in Kailua.
The Ford pickup left the station headed north on Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway, and it appears the Toyota pickup began chasing it and attempted to run the vehicle off the road, police said. The driver of the Ford turned around near Keahole Airport and started traveling back toward Kailua, police said.
The Toyota continued the pursuit and had overtaken the Ford near the 95-mile marker when it went out of control, ran off the road and overturned, police said.
The occupants of the Ford pickup were not injured.
Asing and the other passenger were flown to The Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu, where Asing remained in critical condition today.
The death was the Big Island's 11th traffic fatality on the year, compared with 10 by this day in 2007.
