Accident-victim Wilson eager to come home

If and when Byron Say appears for his arraignment Wednesday, July 27 in District Court, Lisa Wilson plans with all her heart to be present.

“Oh yeah, if I’m able, I’ll be there,” she said via telephone in an exclusive interview with The Garden Island.

Wilson, has been at The Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu since the aftermath of a June 25 accident in Hanalei that left her with multiple fractures and internal injuries.

In a telephone interview Tuesday, a hoarse-voiced but gracious Wilson said, “I’m alive. I’m feeling very good today because I got into a wheelchair. That’s the first step on getting on the road to going home,” she said.

Miraculously, Wilson suffered no head trauma or spinal damage.

“Thank God for helmets,” she said. She said her body will simply have to heal, and it will take a long time.

Wilson said she hopes to be out of the hospital in the near future. She said the key is being able to get herself into a wheelchair without help. With three of her four limbs broken, as well as hip and pelvic fractures to contend with, Wilson said she is in pain, but her spirits are good, thanks in large part to her kama‘aina.

“I’ve just gotten so much good feeling and love from Kaua‘i and the community, I cry every few minutes when I think about it,” she said.

As for Say, Wilson measured her words.

“Do I think about it? I’d like him to feel the pain I felt. I don’t want him in our community,” she said.

Say was released on $5,000 bail late last month after being arrested and charged with four criminal counts in connection with the June 25 accident where he rear-ended a motorcycle driven by 45-year-old Steve Wheeler, Wilson’s friend.

Many in the community wondered how an individual known to law-enforcement officials for his criminal activities could be out on the street and driving a vehicle.

According to police records and County Deputy Prosecutor Richard Minatoya, the 36-year-old Say, who gave police both Hanalei and Kapa‘a as his towns of residence, was charged in connection with an accident involving death or a serious injury.

Say fled the scene of the accident after first hitting the motorcycle from behind, then running over Wilson’s body, before stopping, according to prosecutors. He then fled into nearby taro fields off Kuhio Highway near the one-lane bridge over the Hanalei River. According to prosecutors, the injury-accident charge is a Class-B felony.

Say was also charged with promoting dangerous drugs, a Class-C felony; possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class-C felony; and causing first-degree negligent injury.

According to police records, Say posted $2,000 bail on the first charge, and $1,000 each for the subsequent charges, for a total bail of $5,000.

Say is scheduled to be arraigned in District Court July 27.

Wilson said she remembered virtually every moment of that day.

“It was a beautiful, bright Saturday,” she said. She said she and Wheeler had just crossed the bridge after waiting for on-coming traffic, and were heading out.

Then came the booming noise and chaos.

“The next thing I feel is this huge crunch. I went under the wheels of the car and felt when my helmet popped off. I was laying down at an angle, in the fetal position. The pavement was so hot and people were telling me to take deep breaths,” she said.

“I heard people say that he (Say) was running into the fields,” she said.

“We were going so slow, how could he not see us?” she recalled. Wilson said she was reassured by the American Medical Response ambulance staff during the ride to Wilcox Memorial Hospital. She recalled feeling the terrible sting of road burns, and even recalled her entrance to the hospital, with medical personnel telling her what to expect next.

“I told them I knew. I watched “ER” (the TV show),” she said. She was later airlifted to Queen’s.

Wheeler said his friend’s sense of humor and fighting spirit are just amazing. Wilson said Wheeler would be her primary caregiver when she returns to Kaua‘i.

One of her friends, Linda Wray, has helped arrange for Wilson’s sister Julie Alves to fly from Colorado to Honolulu this Saturday, July 16. Wheeler opened up an account last week to defray her medical costs, called the “Friends of Lisa Wilson.” Wilson said she thought it was quite ironic one of the donation drop-off points is at Two Wheels, a motorcycle shop in Waipouli.

As for hospital life, Wilson said, “the physical therapy gets me going. It’s so painful it’s just amazing.” Wilson said she is no longer taking intravenous pain killers because she feared it would inhibit the healing process.

“You do what you have to do,” she said.

• Andy Gross, business editor, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 251) or agross@pulitzer.net.