KAPA’A — Speed may have been a factor in a two-car crash Friday on the Kapa’a Bypass Road that took the lives of two 16-year-old youths and left two other teenagers injured. Three of the youths, all males, occupied a
KAPA’A — Speed may have been a factor in a two-car crash Friday on the Kapa’a
Bypass Road that took the lives of two 16-year-old youths and left two other
teenagers injured.
Three of the youths, all males, occupied a four-door
sedan that apparently went out of control shortly after 12 p.m. Friday and
slammed into a truck driven by a 17-year-old male youth from Kilauea, according
to the Kaua’i police.
One of the victims, who was sitting in the rear seat
of a four-door sedan, incurred fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at Wilcox
Hospital on Friday. The youth was a junior at Kapa’a High School.
The
driver of the sedan, a 16-year-old Kilauea youth, suffered severe multiple
injuries and was initially medivaced to Queen’s Medical Center on O’ahu for
additional treatment.
On Saturday, Kaua’i police confirmed the youth died
from injuries he sustained in the collision.
Another passenger in the
auto, a 17-year-old male youth from Kapa’a, underwent surgery for internal
injuries at Wilcox Hospital and remains in stable condition.
The operator
of the Mazda truck that collided with the sedan, 17-year-old Kilauea resident
Aaron Marvin sustained back and neck injuries and was treated at Wilcox
Hospital and released.
In an interview Saturday, Marvin said he barely had
time to react after the sedan crossed the centerline and headed toward
him.
“It came out of nowhere,” Marvin said. “I slammed on the brakes and
they hit me.”
The impact was so severe that both vehicles came to a dead
stop, Marvin said. Marvin said he escaped with minor injuries partly because of
“luck” and because he was strapped into his seat belts.
“He was very
lucky,” said Cindy Marvin, Marvin’s mother, who threw a graduation party for
her son at their home Saturday.
Aaron Marvin said he knew the driver of the
sedan, but didn’t know the other youths in the car. “He was a really cool kid,”
Marvin said of the driver who died.
According to police, the sedan was
headed toward Kapa’a on the road when it crossed the centerline and was hit
broadside by the Wailua-bound truck.
Marvin attended a graduation ceremony
at Kapa’a High School Friday night.
Following the incident, family
members and Kaua’i School Superintendent Daniel Hamada visited the injured
youths at the hospital, Frietas said. The accident closed the bypass road for
about 2 1/2 hours, creating traffic tie-ups on Kuhio Highway in Wailua and
Kapa’a.
The accident remains under investigation by police
