Driver indicted in bus-stop crash death of boy, 3

The man accused of crashing his car into a bus shelter in Makaha last week, killing a 3-year-old boy and injuring four others, had a blood-alcohol content of at least twice the legal threshold for drunken driving at the time of the crash.

Potasi Uta Jr.’s blood-alcohol content was 0.16 312 hours after the crash, said Vickie Kapp, deputy city prosecutor.

It is unlawful for anyone with a BAC of 0.08 or higher to operate a vehicle.

Police said Uta refused to submit to a Breathalyzer test when they took him to the Honolulu Police Department’s Kapolei Station after his arrest, so they took him to HPD’s Pearl City Station for a mandatory blood test. They said they had to restrain Uta to get a blood sample because he refused to cooperate.

An Oahu grand jury returned an indictment Wednesday charging Uta, 44, with first-degree negligent homicide, fleeing the scene of an accident, two counts of first-degree negligent injury and two counts of second-degree negligent injury.

Uta remains in custody unable to post $100,000 bail.

The 3-year-old boy killed in the March 28 crash was Ashton Brown.

The four injured people are Brown’s 41-year-old mother, 11- and 5-year-old sisters, and 7-year-old brother. They went to the Queen’s Medical Center by ambulance in critical and serious condition.

Police said the victims were at the bus shelter facing Makaha Beach when a Honolulu-bound sedan veered off Farrington Highway and plowed into them. The driver fled the scene, leaving a trail of sparks caused by damaged parts of the car scraping the road surface. Police said patrol officers stopped Uta about two miles away near the Makaha 7-Eleven store.

Uta has prior convictions for drunken driving, driving without a valid driver’s license, refusing and resisting an order to stop, unauthorized control of a motor vehicle, criminal property damage, theft and burglary.

His sister said Uta was released on parole for the burglary just eight days before and had attended her birthday party the night of the crash. She said she was supposed to drive him home but believes he got tired of waiting.