Police and Fire

Separate crashes kill 1 and injure 5

A 68-year-old Kapolei man was killed and two people were injured Sunday night after he lost control of his pickup truck and crashed into another vehicle on H-1 freeway near Kualakai Parkway.

Honolulu police said the man was possibly speeding eastbound on H-1 at about 7:30 p.m. when he used the left shoulder to attempt to pass another vehicle, losing control of his 1997 Dodge pickup and slamming into a two-door 2006 Ford Mustang traveling in the far-right lane. The vehicles hit a right guardrail and careened across the freeway’s three lanes into a concrete median.

The man had fatal head and internal injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. The Mustang’s 34-year-old male driver and 27-year-old female passenger, both of Wai­pahu, complained of pain and were taken to the Queen’s Medical Center in guarded condition, police said.

The couple were both wearing seat belts, but the pickup driver was not, police said.

He is the sixth traffic fatality on Oahu this year, compared with nine at this time last year.

It was the second major accident on Oahu on Sunday. At about 1:35 p.m. a car carrying two adults and a child slammed into a stalled vehicle on the H-2 freeway, resulting in a massive traffic disruption. Police closed all southbound lanes near Mililani for about two hours while debris was cleared and an initial investigation was conducted.

The occupants of the moving vehicle, which flipped over, were identified by paramedics as a 30-year-old woman, a 31-year-old man and a 9-year-old boy who was in a booster seat in the back seat. No other injuries were reported. All three occupants of the vehicle that flipped over were taken to Queen’s in serious condition.

Woman gets probation for using dryer

A Kauai woman has been sentenced to a year’s probation after using someone else’s clothes dryer.

The Garden Island newspaper reported that, according to prosecutors, Terri Ann Berg was staying at a Kauai resort cottage in November when she entered someone else’s cottage more than once to dry her laundry while the tenants were away.

The 48-year-old Koloa woman was sentenced to probation and 75 hours of community service last week after accepting a plea deal on a criminal trespassing charge. She told the court it was a stupid mistake.

Deputy Public Defender Stephanie Sato said Berg served a day in jail for the offense. The state dropped a first-degree burglary charge that could have resulted in a longer probation, jail time or fines.

2 hikers trapped between rivers rescued

Two North Dakota tourists hiking in the Oheo Gulch area on Maui were rescued by firefighters Sunday afternoon after they were trapped for about two hours on a small piece of land between two rivers running at high volume near Wai­moku Falls.

The Maui Fire Department received the emergency call at 4:44 p.m. and sent its helicopter to airlift the hikers, visiting from Hamilton, S.D. The hikers were brought out one at a time, and the rescue was completed at 6:27 p.m., Maui officials said.