A Marine killed Tuesday night in a single-car crash on H-3 Freeway near the Mokapu Boulevard overpass was identified yesterday as Pfc. Kristopher L. Cox, 22, of Christiana, Tenn.

Police investigators said high speed was an apparent factor in the crash of Cox's 1986 Chevrolet at 9:56 p.m. Tuesday. Cox was alone in the car, police said.

Cox was a food service specialist assigned to the 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force at Kane'ohe Bay, said Marine Corps Base Hawaii public affairs officer 1st Lt. Binford Strickland. Cox joined the Marines in July 2004 and had been in Hawai'i since February 2005.

Cox served in Afghanistan and Iraq with the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment. His awards include the Combat Action Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and two Sea Service Deployment Ribbons.

His death was O'ahu's seventh traffic fatality of the year.

HAWAI'I SOLDIERS GOING TO AFRICA

A deployment ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. today at Wheeler Army Airfield for six Hawai'i Army National Guard soldiers assigned to duty in Africa.

Detachment 55, an Army aviation unit, will soon begin training at Fort Benning, Ga., before deploying to Djibouti to join Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa.

Detachment 55 operates a C-26 aircraft, a twin-engine turboprop that can carry a pilot and a co-pilot and 19 passengers.

The unit flew in support of the recovery operations after Hurricane Iniki in 1992.

TWO CHARGED IN ARMED ROBBERY

Prosecutors yesterday charged two men with a Jan. 26 armed robbery in Wai'anae.

Lionel K. Afoa, 39, was arrested at Halawa Correctional Facility and charged with first-degree robbery, attempted second-degree murder and three firearm offenses. Tuulofoaina Utuga, 30, who is awaiting trial at O'ahu Community Correctional Center, was charged with first-degree robbery.

They are accused of beating and robbing two men shortly after they left a gambling event in Wai'anae at 5:30 a.m. Afoa allegedly fired a shot at one of the victims.

POWER GOES OUT IN EAST HONOLULU

About 450 households and businesses in East Honolulu were without power for about half an hour last night.

Hawaiian Electric Co. crews at 7:10 p.m. restored power to customers between East Hind Drive in 'Aina Haina to the entrance to Hawai'i Kai, HECO spokesman Darren Pai said.

The outage was reported at 6:45 p.m. and was caused by an underground cable problem, Pai said.

DUI ARRESTS UP ON BIG ISLAND

Big Island police have reported arresting 24 motorists for drunken driving last week.

Seven of the drivers were involved in a traffic crash and one was under the age of 21, the Hawai'i County Police Department said.

So far this year, there have been 189 DUI arrests on the Big Island compared with 167 during the same period last year, an increase of 13 percent. There have been 257 major accidents so far this year compared with 309 during the same period last year, a decrease of 17 percent.

There have been seven traffic fatalities on the Big Island this year, the same number for the same period last year.