Family members mourn loss of woman killed at bus stop
Elpidio Duldulao holds a photo of himself and wife Benita taken during the Christmas holidays in 2004. Benita Duldulao was killed Sunday when a car jumped the curb and hit her as she sat at a bus stop on Farrington Highway.
Bouquets of flowers were left yesterday at the bus stop on Farrington Highway near Paiwa Street where Benita Duldulao was killed Sunday.
Elpidio Duldulao holds a family photo of himself and his wife.
Benita A. Duldulao’s watch stopped ticking at 8:30 a.m. Sunday.
That was when a hit-and-run driver plowed into a Waipahu bus stop where Duldulao, 68, was waiting to go to church, killing her and injuring another woman.
Police arrested Richtenson Alyphios, 41, Sunday as the suspected driver. Alyphios’ license had been revoked in May because of a drunken-driving conviction, court records show.
Police said alcohol and speeding may have been factors in Sunday’s fatal crash.
Duldulao’s family members gathered at their Awaia Street home yesterday, mourning the loss and wondering how the driver could be so callous. Police said the driver and a passenger walked away from the crash site, on Farrington Highway near Paiwa Street. Officers arrested them a short time later.
"Think about how he left the body," family member Walter Corpuz said yesterday. "They didn’t even call the ambulance or cops."
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Duldulao was pinned under the 2002 Ford Taurus, which smashed into the shelter and caused its roof to collapse. The impact caused her watch to stop, Corpuz said.
"When they broke the news to me, I was speechless," he said.
A 67-year-old Waipahu woman was thrown from the bus stop and had minor injuries.
Duldulao left her home shortly after 8 a.m. Sunday on her way to Mass. Corpuz said she normally leaves with her husband, Elpidio Duldulao, but on that day she left earlier and planned to meet him at church.
Elpidio Duldulao passed the accident scene on his way to church, not knowing that his wife of 46 years was one of the victims. When he did not see his wife at church, he thought she either went to visit relatives or went shopping.
Hours later a police officer went to their home and told him that his wife was the hit-and-run fatality.
Benita Duldulao was born in Bangui in the Ilocos Norte province of the Philippines, and arrived in Hawaii in 2002. She worked in the pineapple fields at Kunia, and for the past two years she worked for Ganir & Co. Pacific Rim Commercial Services, a janitorial business. Each morning she woke up at 4:30 a.m. to catch the bus to Waikiki, where she cleaned the police substation on Kalakaua Avenue.
Duldulao had a close relationship with her five children, calling them in the Philippines every day after work. "She spent a lot of money on phone cards," Corpuz said.
It pained her to be away from them, he said, adding that she and her husband were petitioning to bring their children to Hawaii. Duldulao often sent what she earned to the Philippines to financially assist them.
"Auntie Benita was a generous and loving person," Corpuz said.
Simple pastimes pleased Duldulao. She enjoyed watching "Wheel of Fortune," soap operas and the popular game show "Wowowee" on the Filipino Channel. She always sat on one side of a brown love seat in the living room a couple of feet away from the television, Corpuz said.
Duldulao watched Corpuz’s 9-year-old son while he was at work.
"You can always count on her," he said.
Police booked Alyphios for investigation of causing an accident resulting in death or serious bodily injury; leaving the scene of an accident; and failing to render aid.
Court records show that Alyphios’ driver’s license was revoked on May 12 for drunken driving, and he was scheduled to appear in Ewa District Court next month on other charges dealing with driving without a valid driver’s license and having an open liquor container when he was pulled over on May 12.
