Keiki safety must include the homeless

Where to start on a cluster of circumstances so tragic that outrage grows as each layer peels away?

The tragedy occurred late March 28, when a Honda sedan veered off Farrington Highway — at a stretch known by area residents to be deadly — and plowed into a family at a bus shelter fronting Makaha Beach. Ashton Brown, 3, was killed, and four other family members were rushed to The Queen’s Medical Center, fighting for their lives: two sisters, 11 and 5; his mother, 41; and a brother, 7. Ashton’s father was across the street with another baby, reportedly pitching a tent for the night for the homelesss family.

Disturbing questions quickly emerged, revealing a trio of circumstances, each of which alone would be enough for outcry:

>> Was drinking and driving truly involved? Did a convicted felon with a DUI past have such disregard for himself and others to get behind the wheel — again — while impaired?

>> For Makaha residents who have repeatedly sounded the alarm against speeding and for better lighting along that deadly stretch of Farrington Highway, could better enforcement have prevented this tragedy?

>> And last, but not least of all: Since when did it become acceptable — condoned by silence, really — for children to be wandering the streets at 10:20 at night, without the security of a home or shelter?

Suspect Potasi Uta Jr., 44, was charged Wednesday with negligent homicide, several counts of negligent injury and fleeing the scene of a crash. Prosecutors say he had a blood-alcohol content at least twice the legal threshold for drunken driving.

It is hardly Uta’s first brush with the law: He has six felony convictions and six misdemeanor convictions, including a 1986 conviction for drunken driving, car theft and criminal property damage on Maui. He had just been paroled March 20 from the prison system’s Laumaka Work Furlough Center.

The alleged DUI factor is already spurring activists, rightfully, to call needed attention to drunken driving laws, in hopes of stiffening penalties and rehabilitation. It is call that must be sounded periodically — vigilantly and vigorously.

For Makaha residents, the tragedy has flared longstanding concerns about safety along that roadway. Some 50 people rallied March 31 at the Farrington Highway bus shelter, urging more police presence at night to deter drinking and speeding, and to urge drivers to stop such behavior.

That cause certainly deserves time and attention. But there are limits to what can be done by police, who are already patrolling and ticketing the area. Other means must be found to curb reckless — and criminal — behavior: Better lighting would help, as would measures that ingrain into drivers safer driving by slowing down and not drinking and driving.

As for children who are forced to live without a home, the alarm must be sounded, loudly and relentlessly, to get them off the streets for their own safety and welfare.   

People recall seeing the Brown family pitching a domed tent near beach rest­room and shower facilities at night, catching a bus into Hono­lulu, then returning to West Oahu at night.

With or without their parents or guardians, living on the streets is no way for keiki to live. We as a community cannot allow ourselves to become desensitized to these minors who have no choice. The lack of outcry for the Brown children on this point only speaks to how easy it has become to ignore the problem.

From 2010-11, nearly 700 homeless children were known to have received outreach services; most of them were unsheltered. For a child living on the streets, with no prospects out, it’s tantamount to endangering the welfare of that minor — and agencies need to actively step in to help get kids off, via measures like sweeps or improved enforcement of truancy laws.

Much as we may want to, we cannot look away from this car crash. Instead, there needs to be a firm turning in attitude toward child homelessness — to have zero tolerance when it comes to seeing keiki living on the streets, and all the dangers that brings.