A 16-year-old boy died following a motorcycle accident Sunday at Kahuku Motocross Track, the most serious in a string of motorcycle-related accidents on Easter weekend that left six other people in serious condition.
On Maui a mo-ped rider was in critical condition after a collision with a pickup truck.
Witnesses said the boy who was killed, identified by friends as Kahuku High School student Wayne Stevenson, was riding on the main track at Kahuku at about 2:30 p.m. when he apparently crashed following a jump. He reportedly went into cardiac arrest following the crash and was attended to by track officials until paramedics arrived.
"Everyone was in shock," said Christy Blanchard, who was at the track but did not witness the crash. "It’s very sad. I’ll definitely think twice next time I ride."
Stevenson, who played middle linebacker on Kahuku’s junior varsity football team, was an avid motocross racer. On his Myspace page Stevenson identified himself as a professional rider with sponsorships from Monster and Rockstar.
Sunday’s crash was the fourth time over the weekend that emergency personnel were called to the track, according to a spokeswoman for the city Department of Emergency Services.
At about 1:30 p.m. Saturday, a 53-year-old man was taken from the site to a hospital in serious condition.
At about 4:02 p.m. Saturday, paramedics took a man in his 40s from the track to the hospital in serious condition. A short time after the second incident Saturday, paramedics were dispatched to the site a third time, but a man, 39, declined treatment.
On Maui a Lahaina man was transported to a hospital in critical condition Sunday after his mo-ped was cut off by a pickup truck on Honoapiilani Highway, police said. The accident was reported at 11:34 a.m. near the Wahikuli Road intersection in West Maui.
Police say both vehicles were traveling north on the highway when the driver of the pickup, making a right turn onto Wahikuli Road, failed to yield the right of way to the mo-ped, which was in the bike lane.
According to police reports, the 53-year-old Lahaina man operating the mo-ped collided with the right front fender of the pickup truck.
The 66-year-old man driving a Ford F-150 pickup and his 71-year-old male passenger, both of Lahaina, were wearing seat belts and were uninjured, according to Maui police.
When medics arrived on the scene at 11:39 a.m., the patient was unresponsive with traumatic head injuries, according to Maui County Paramedic Association spokesman Ryan Joslin. The mo-ped operator was not wearing a helmet and was transported to the emergency room with critical, life-threatening injuries, according to police.
On Oahu on Sunday a male motorcycle rider, believed to be in his late teens, was taken to the Queen’s Medical Center in serious condition after a crash at Waihee Road and Waihee Place in Kaneohe.
Shortly after 2 p.m. a 39-year-old man and a 46-year-old woman were seriously injured in a crash on Kamehameha Highway near Swanzy Beach in Kaaawa.
Paramedics took both to the hospital in serious condition, a spokeswoman for the city Department of Emergency Services said. No other vehicles were involved.
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Star-Advertiser stringer Wendy Osher contributed to this report.
