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Police charge Ewa Beach man in 2012 wrong-way collision

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COURTESY HAWAII NEWS NOW
All northbound lanes of the H-2 Freeway between the Ka Uka offramp to the Mililani Mauka exit have been reopened following an early morning head-on collision that sent a man to the hospital in critical condition.

Following a year-long investigation, a 39-year-old Ewa Beach man has been charged with hitting a pickup truck head-on after driving the wrong way on H-2 freeway, critically injuring the pickup’s driver.

Pedro Ortiz was arrested Sunday on two counts of first-degree negligent injury, driving with a suspended license and hitting several city road signs while driving the wrong way on the H-2 on Nov. 8, 2012. A drunken driving charge against Ortiz is pending, according to police. His bail was set at $25,000.

Police said the suspect drove a Toyota Sequoia SUV south in a northbound lane of the freeway, about a mile south of the Meheula Parkway overpass. The suspect’s vehicle hit the Mazda pickup truck, which was traveling north.

Ortiz entered the freeway by using the Mililani Mauka off-ramp and was driving south on northbound lanes when he collided with the Mazda truck, police said.

The Waipahu man, who was driving the Mazda pickup truck, was pinned in the cab of the vehicle and taken to the hospital in critical condition.

The suspect had minor injuries.

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