Ewa Beach is in mourning after a head-on crash Tuesday afternoon between two SUVs killed a teenage girl and left three other people badly injured.
Police said they believe speed and alcohol were contributing factors in the crash that happened at about 1:30 p.m. near the Ewa Pointe Marketplace.
Friends identified the girl who died as Kawehi Kupukaa, a 14-year-old Campbell High School sophomore who was called an inspiration to her teammates on the Sabers’ junior varsity softball team that recently won the OIA Red Division title.
Police and witnesses said a GMC Envoy was speeding eastbound on Kaimalie Street toward Fort Weaver Road when it crossed the double solid centerline and struck a Porsche Cayenne traveling westbound. The Envoy continued, striking an unoccupied minivan parked on the street before slamming into a utility pole.
The impact of the first collision was so severe that a tire from the Porsche was lodged into the hood of the GMC. The van, which had been parallel-parked in the westbound direction, was left in the middle of the street facing east. Car parts and other debris, including a red baseball cap identified as belonging to the Envoy’s driver, were strewn across several hundred feet of the road.
Kupukaa was a front-seat passenger in a GMC Envoy.
A 16-year-old boy, also a Campbell student and driver of the Envoy, remained in critical condition at the Queen’s Medical Center.
A third Campbell student — a 14-year-old boy and back-seat passenger in the Envoy — was hospitalized at Queen’s in serious condition, as was a woman, 41, who was the only person in the Porsche SUV.
"It’s always a tragedy when you have youth involved, especially near the holidays," said Lt. Bobby Towne of the Honolulu Police Department’s Traffic Division.
Mariners’ townhouse resident David Tsai was entering his car Tuesday afternoon when he heard a vehicle speeding down the road. "Immediately I just got in my car and shut my door," Tsai said. He witnessed the crash and ran to help, as did other people from nearby townhouses and the Ewa Pointe Marketplace.
Linda Alberto, who works in a nearby office, said the crashes were so loud that she and many others immediately ran into the street. "They were all young people," she said, shaking her head.
Several witnesses said the boy in the back seat of the Envoy got out and immediately yelled for people to help the girl in the front seat, whom he identified as his girlfriend.
Campbell’s school day ended at 2:10 p.m. Tuesday. It was not clear why the students were out of school early.
The driver of the Envoy was identified by friends as Brandon Harris, 16. Friends said he is a military dependent who lives with his family near the scene of the crash. Campbell students who gathered at the site said the Envoy was easily identified by the large Dallas Cowboys football team "star" logo in the rear window.
Caragh Morris and Justine Tadeo-Corpuz, freshmen on Campbell’s JV softball team, arrived at the scene several hours after the crash to learn that Kupukaa, their teammate, was killed.
While Kupukaa wasn’t a starter, she was a leader and an inspiration to them because of her passion for the sport.
The team won the OIA Red Division championship last month, Tadeo-Corpuz said.
"She was the funniest girl ever," Morris said. "She was somebody who would pick up the team."
"She always knew how to make us laugh," Tadeo-Corpuz said.
Kupukaa, whose family lives in an Ewa by Gentry subdivision near Holomua Elementary, was an avid surfer, they said.
Several area residents said motorists often speed on Kaimalie Street. They noted that several street parking stalls in the eastbound direction were recently removed to allow for better visibility.
