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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 5:33 p.m., Friday, October 10, 2008

Alcohol a factor in millionaire's moped wreck

By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser Staff Writer

A millionaire killed in a moped accident had a blood-alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit when he crashed into a bus stop sign in Kaimuki earlier this week, according to the Honolulu Medical Examiner's office.

Officials listed the cause of death for 47-year-old DeWayne McKinney as multiple internal injuries due to the collision, with alcohol intoxication as a contributing factor, said Dr. William Goodhue, first deputy medical examiner. Tests showed that McKinney's blood-alcohol level was .223. The legal limit is .08.

McKinney made millions of dollars with an ATM business in Hawai'i after spending nearly two decades in a California prison for a murder he didn't commit.

McKinney was on Wai'alae Avenue shortly after midnight Tuesday heading toward Kahala when the moped he was driving drifted to the right and left the road just before 14th Avenue. He hit a bus stop sign pole, struck a wooden utility pole and was thrown from his moped. Initially, police said that alcohol did not appear to be a factor in the wreck, but speed may have been.

A gang member as a teenager, McKinney was wrongfully convicted of a 1980 robbery-murder at a Burger King in California and spent 19 years in prison. He was set free in 2000 when a career criminal confessed to the crime.

McKinney arrived in Hawai'i in 2001 and started his Island ATM business with a $1.7 million settlement from the Orange County Police Department. At the time of his death, he owned 42 ATMs on three islands and had a net worth of more than $6 million.

Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com.