Two West Hawaii men were killed in separate traffic accidents Thursday that Hawaii County police said appear to have been caused by a driver who fell asleep and blown tire, respectively.
In the first incident, at about 1 p.m. at the 19-mile marker of Akoni Pule Highway in North Kohala, a 16-year-old Hawi girl apparently fell asleep while driving a Nissan Frontier pickup truck, police said.
The truck, traveling east, drifted off the right side of the highway and hit a bicyclist who was riding east on the shoulder, police said.
Emergency personnel took the bicyclist to Kona Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Police identified him as Jessie Taylor, 52, of Kailua-Kona.
The driver and her mother, a 45-year-old Hawi woman, were not injured.
The second fatal accident happened at about 3:50 p.m. at the 82-mile marker of Queen Kaahumanu Highway in North Kona.
Police said Christopher M. Landers, 38, of Waimea was killed in a three-vehicle accident that began when a tire blew out.
A Ford F-350 pickup truck driven by a 49-year-old Kailua-Kona man was traveling south when its left tire blew, causing him to lose control and sideswipe a Nissan Altima traveling north.
The Ford truck continued into the northbound lane and collided head-on with a Ford Ranger pickup truck traveling north driven by Landers, who was not wearing a seat belt, police said.
The 67-year-old driver of the Nissan and her female passengers, ages 20, 38 and 44, all of Austin, Texas, were not injured.
The driver of the F-350 pickup was taken to North Hawaii Community Hospital, where he was treated and released with minor injuries.
Landers was taken to Kona Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 9:10 p.m.
Police said they do not suspect alcohol, drugs or speeding in connection with the second crash.
In each case, police initiated a negligent-homicide investigation and ordered an autopsy to determine the cause of death.
Police ask anyone with information on the Akoni Pule incident to call officer Larry Flowers at 326-4646, ext. 229. To report information on the Queen Kaahumanu incident, call officer Joshua Lewis at the same number.
The deaths were the 15th and 16th on Hawaii island this year, compared with 12 at this time last year.
