Driver indicted in hit-and-run of moped rider near Ala Moana Center

The state says the driver accused of killing a moped rider in a hit-and-run collision near Ala Moana Center last year was drunk.

An Oahu grand jury returned an indictment Wednesday charging Jerry T. Putnam, 47, with negligent homicide and fleeing the scene of a fatal accident.

Deputy Prosecutor Catherine Lowenberg told Circuit Judge Colette Garibaldi that Putnam was speeding when he turned left onto Atkinson Drive to beat the light and crashed into a moped operated by Paul Andrews that was traveling on Kapiolani Boulevard in the opposite direction.

Honolulu police said the collision happened May 27 just after midnight. They said Andrews, 32, was thrown from his moped.

An ambulance took Andrews to The Queen’s Medical Center in critical condition where he died two days later.

Lowenberg said Putnam stopped briefly to check the damage to his car then left the scene. Police located him and had him submit to a blood draw. Lowenberg said Putnam’s blood alcohol level was 0.12. The legal threshold for drunken driving is a 0.08 blood alcohol concentration.

Putnam, of Salt Lake, remains free pending trial after posting $20,000 bail.

First-degree negligent homicide and leaving the scene of a fatal accident are class B felonies punishable by up to 10 years in prison. A new state law that took effect in July allows judges to hand a person found guilty of first-degree negligent homicide an extended sentence of 20 years in prison for not remaining at scene to render aid. The state did not invoke the new law but asked for extended sentences only if Putnam is found guilty of the two charges.