Sixty-one-year-old Josefina B. Visaya and eight fellow landscaping workers from Keaau on Hawaii island were heading home Monday after a hard day’s work when the van they were riding in was struck by a speeding pickup truck, driven by an alleged drunken driver, near Honokaa.
She and another woman were killed, and seven others were injured.
“It was her first job and last,” after moving to Hawaii island 20 years ago from Ilocos Norte in the Philippines, her son, Fred, said. “She loved to work. She’s a good mother. She loved the grandkids. She’s the best mom.”
The nine van occupants worked for Puna Certified Nursery, based in Kurtistown in East Hawaii, but would perform landscaping and grounds maintenance at West Hawaii resorts.
The crash occurred at 4:24 p.m. on Mamalahoa Highway, two-tenths of a mile east of the 39-mile marker.
Police said the Ford van was heading eastbound when it was forced off Mamalahoa Highway by a Nissan pickup truck. Both vehicles landed on their sides 15 feet down an embankment, fire officials said.
Police arrested the truck driver, Alfred Berdon III, 30, Monday on two counts of negligent homicide, four counts of negligent injury, driving under the influence of an intoxicant and driving with a suspended or revoked license and without no-fault insurance. He was also arrested for an outstanding bench warrant.
Berdon was found guilty Aug. 7 for operating a vehicle while intoxicated, a misdemeanor, for which he was sentenced to 36 hours of community service and a one-year suspension of his driver’s license.
He also has a previous conviction for a 2007 assault case for a road rage incident in South Kohala in which he punched a man wearing sunglasses, causing him to lose an eye.
Also killed in Monday’s crash was Patrocinia R. Cadang, 54. Three 46-year-old women were critically injured; one was medevaced to the Queen’s Medical Center on Oahu, one was taken to Hilo Medical Center and another to North Hawaii Community Hospital. A 23-year-old man and 23-year-old woman were taken to Hilo Medical with minor injuries, police said.
The 45-year-old male driver of the van was taken to North Hawaii Community Hospital, where he was treated for minor injuries and released. A 55-year-old man was also taken there in stable condition.
Fred Visaya said he thinks his mother and her co-workers had possibly been working at a Waikoloa resort Monday.
He said his mother was a hard worker and had been employed by the company for 18 or 19 years, shortly after moving to Hawaii. She performed “all-around work,” such as trimming plants and pulling weeds, he said.
Visaya said when he first heard about the accident, he thought it was minor.
When he got to the hospital, Visaya learned that his mother was “gone already.”
He said he and his family, including his father, Cenon, are upset about his mother’s death, especially after learning the driver was allegedly drinking and speeding.
His parents were close, enjoyed cooking together and were happy, Visaya said.
Josefina Visaya also leaves behind two daughters, Mary Lou and Genelyn, and three grandchildren.
Fred Visaya said the van was a personal vehicle belonging to one of the workers.
Anyone with information on the crash is asked to call officer Paul Kim at 333-9708.
These were the 28th and 29th traffic fatalities on Hawaii island this year compared with 15 at the same time last year.
