Fatality in wrong-way crash is identified
The Honolulu Medical Examiner identified the man killed early Sunday morning in a head-on collision on Nimitz Highway involving a wrong-way driver.
Billy Thomas, 28, of Ewa Beach was a passenger in a white 1995 Geo Metro driven by a 39-year-old Aiea man. The driver, whom police say was intoxicated, was traveling town-bound in the highway’s Ewa-bound lanes, then made a U-turn at Sand Island Access Road and drove the wrong way in the town-bound lanes.
Police said the Metro struck a white 2002 Toyota 4Runner traveling toward town at about 3 a.m.
Paramedics took Thomas in critical condition to the Queen’s Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The 39-year-old driver went to Queen’s in serious condition.
The 49-year-old driver of the 4Runner and his passenger, a 40-year-old woman, both of Kapolei, went to Queen’s in serious condition.
It was the 16th traffic death on Oahu this year, compared with 11 at this time last year.
Cause of death unknown in Likelike case
A 59-year-old Honolulu man who was found lying in the grass near the Wilson Tunnel after a pickup truck fire has died.
The Medical Examiner’s Office identified him as Samuel Richard Hurwitz of Honolulu. A determination of the cause of his death is pending further studies.
At about 2:45 p.m. Thursday, a pickup truck fire occurred in the Likelike Highway town-bound tunnel. Police had said the occupants got out of the truck safely.
At about the same time, bystanders found Hurwitz lying on the grass. Firefighters performed CPR on him before he was transported in critical condition to a hospital, where he died.
Hurwitz grew up in Southern California. He split his time between Honolulu and Pago Pago, Samoa, where he worked as a correspondent and photographer for the Samoa News, his nephew Michael Hurwitz said in a phone interview from Newport Beach, Calif.
Man arrested in gunpoint robbery of teen
An 18-year-old Haleiwa man allegedly robbed a 17-year-old boy at gunpoint at a Kaimuki shopping center at 1:40 a.m. Monday. Police said the boy was walking through the parking lot when he recognized the man from a youth program they had attended together.
The man allegedly pointed a handgun at the boy, then allegedly demanded his money and fled in a light-colored vehicle, police said.
Police found him at his Haleiwa home and arrested him at 4:30 a.m. on suspicion of first-degree robbery.
