Driver who crashed into bus shelter, killing boy, gets 20-year term

Potasi S. Uta Jr. apologized in state court Wednesday for plowing through a bus shelter while driving drunk, killing a 3-year-old boy and injuring his mother, two older sisters and an older brother.

“If there was a way I could bring this baby back without having to take my own life, I would bring him back,” Uta said.

Circuit Judge Glenn Kim sentenced Uta, 44, to 20 years in prison for negligent homicide, fleeing the scene of the crash and four counts of negligent injury.

The 20-year term is the sentence to which Uta agreed when he pleaded guilty in September. He will begin serving his sentence next September, when he completes a 10-year term for a 2004 burglary conviction.

The state says Uta’s blood-alcohol content was at least 0.16 when he crashed into the bus stop on Farrington Highway in Makaha on March 28, then drove off amid a stream of sparks as parts of his damaged vehicle scraped the roadway. It is unlawful for anyone with a blood alcohol level of 0.08 or higher to drive a vehicle.

Ashton Brown died in the crash. His 41-year-old mother, sisters, 11 and 5, and a brother, 7, suffered leg fractures and other injuries.

The Brown family has since moved to the mainland and was not in court for Uta’s sentencing.

“I don’t think anybody would disagree that this is a horrific, heartbreaking tragedy that was made all the worse because it was so pointless,” said Kaina Awong, deputy prosecutor. “It did not have to happen. It was the worst-case scenario of drinking and driving.”

After the accident, police stopped Uta near a 7-Eleven store in Makaha, about two miles away from the bus stop. He refused to submit to a Breathalyzer test so officers were forced to hold him down to get a blood sample.

Uta had been released on parole for the burglary on March 20. He said he had obtained a job and reconciled with his children. He has previous convictions for drunken driving, auto theft and criminal property damage.

“But again, I made a bad choice which affected innocent lives,” Uta said.

His sister said Uta was at her birthday party before the crash.

She said she was to drive him home, but he might have gotten tired of waiting for her.