LAWAI – A two-car crash early Friday morning on Koloa Road left a 15-year-old dead and several others injured, including one who was medevaced to Queen’s Medical Center. Kauai police said speed and alcohol played a role in the death of
LAWAI – A two-car crash early Friday morning on Koloa Road left a 15-year-old dead and several others injured, including one who was medevaced to Queen’s Medical Center.
Kauai police said speed and alcohol played a role in the death of a 15-year-old male of Makaweli, who was ejected from a vehicle during the crash and died at the scene.His name will not be released by police because he is a minor.
Keisha Shimatsu,18, of Kekaha was arrested for first-degree negligent homicide and two counts of first-degree negligent injury and taken into custody. Shimatsu was then released pending investigation.
The Kauai Police Department responded to an accident around 12:40 a.m. Friday morning involving six teenagers on Koloa Road, near the Puakenikeni Street intersection, according to a county news release.
Upon arrival, officers said they found a Nissan pickup truck with two occupants.
According to police, the Nissan pickup was heading west on Koloa Road, when it apparently struck a rock wall and a utility pole along the westbound shoulder of the roadway. The impact of the crash severed the utility pole and caused the truck to flip over.
The 18-year-old male driver of the Nissan pickup of Kekaha was transported by police to Wilcox Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The female occupant, 15, of Kekaha, did not report any injuries.
A second truck involved in the crash was also headed west, when Shimatsu apparently lost control of the vehicle and drove off a cliff along the eastbound shoulder of Koloa Road. The Toyota pickup crashed into a storage warehouse at Lawai Cannery Self Storage.
The front passenger of the Toyota pickup, the 15-year-old male of Makaweli, was ejected from the vehicle during the crash and died at the scene.
Another male passenger, a 16-year-old resident of Kekaha, was transported to Wilcox Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The third passenger in the Toyota, an 18-year-old Kekaha female, was initially transported to Wilcox Hospital but has since been medivaced to Queen’s Hospital.
Koloa Road was closed from 12:40 to 5:40 a.m. while KPD’s Traffic Safety Section conducted an on-scene investigation.
The police investigation remains ongoing.
This is Kauai’s seventh traffic fatality of 2016.
