Crash victim identified as Marine sergeant
A 28-year-old man who died upon crashing his motorcycle into a metal guardrail Sunday on Likelike Highway was a Marine staff sergeant and four-time war veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, officials said.
The medical examiner’s office identified the man as David Kemp.
Police said speed was a factor in the 4:10 a.m. crash in the Kaneohe-bound lanes, about 240 feet makai of the Wilson Tunnel.
The medical examiner’s office said it is still awaiting the results of toxicology tests to determine whether drugs or alcohol played a role in the crash.
The man was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Emergency Medical Services.
Kemp was a forward observer with the 1st Battalion, 12th Marines, an artillery unit, the Marine Corps said. He enlisted in the Corps in 2003.
Police said it was Oahu’s 40th traffic fatality this year, compared with 43 at this time in 2012.
Inmate brought back after Waiawa escape
Authorities are investigating how a 34-year-old Waiawa Correctional Facility inmate, who was eligible to be released in October, managed to escape and was free for about three hours early Tuesday morning.
Luis Garcia was reported missing from the minimum-security prison facility in Waipio following the 11:45 p.m. head count Monday.
Police found him a few hours later near Kamehameha Highway and Salt Lake Boulevard at 3:45 a.m.
Garcia was serving time for burglary, kidnapping, forgery and theft and was eligible for release Oct. 11.
He now faces a second-degree escape charge.
Drowning ruled as man’s cause of death
The death of a 59-year-old Haleiwa man whose body was found in the ocean off Turtle Bay Resort has been classified an accidental drowning by the medical examiner’s office.
Elwood Plemer died of asphyxiation due to drowning, the medical examiner’s office said. His body was found floating in the ocean Thursday at about 5:25 p.m.
He died at the hospital, where he was taken in extremely critical condition, an Emergency Medical Services supervisor said.
