The driver of a pickup truck involved in a fiery crash in Central Oahu that killed a man early Sunday admitted he took some cocaine and drank nine to 12 beers before getting behind the wheel, said Keith Seto, deputy prosecutor.
An Oahu grand jury returned an indictment Thursday charging Donald Halleron, 29, of Waialua with negligent homicide.
Circuit Judge Richard Perkins confirmed bail at $200,000.
The indictment also charges Halleron with driving without a license.
Police said a 65-year-old Haleiwa man died after Halleron crashed his truck into the rear of the man’s sport utility vehicle, which then burst into flames.
The Honolulu Medical Examiner has yet to re- lease the victim’s name pending positive identification, nor is he named in the indictment.
The man was sitting in his SUV in a line with other motorists on Wilikina Drive, just south of Kaukonahua Road, waiting for police to reopen roadways following Saturday night’s tsunami warning.
In court Thursday, Seto said witnesses estimated Halleron’s truck was traveling about 60 mph just before the crash.
That stretch of Wilikina Drive has a 45 mph speed limit.
Police said Halleron’s truck hit the SUV, causing a chain reaction with two other vehicles.
The driver of the vehicle directly in front of the SUV, a 43-year-old woman, went to a hospital in serious condition. Four people in the next vehicle ahead went to a hospital in good condition.
Halleron went to the Queen’s Medical Center. Seto said Halleron’s blood alcohol content was 0.19, more than twice the legal threshold for drunken driving.
Police arrested him upon his release from the hospital Sunday at 8:40 a.m.
Halleron has a conviction for driving drunk in October 2010.
