Moiliili toddler, 2, killed by driver of SUV in morning accident

A 2-year-old boy died Wednesday after being hit by a sport utility vehicle on the sidewalk in front of his Moiliili home.

The toddler was identified as Filimone Asi, according to the Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office.

Police said the accident occurred at about 7:15 a.m. when a 37-year-old woman struck the toddler with the front end of her blue 2009 Toyota RAV4.

The child was taken to the Queen’s Medical Center in critical condition, with multiple internal injuries, and died shortly after. An autopsy will be performed today.

Honolulu Police Department’s Traffic Division spokesman Lt. Robert Towne said the driver, a neighbor of the toddler’s family, was taking her daughter to school at the time of the accident. She had reversed out of her driveway, in a private lane on Kapiolani Boulevard, near Kaaha Street, and then started driving forward, striking the child, whom she did not see, Towne said.

Police said the child was unattended at the time.

Police have opened a third-degree negligent homicide investigation. Speed and alcohol are not factors in the case.

Nate Hatchell, who is staying with a friend at an apartment complex on the narrow lane, said he was awakened by people screaming, crying and cursing. He walked outside and saw the toddler’s mother crying.

Area residents said the toddler often played with several other children, ages ranging from 2 to 10, in the lane with no supervision. Hatchell and others in the neighborhood, a mix of residential buildings and single-family homes, said they have had close calls in which they nearly struck children while driving in the area.

The child’s parents could not be reached for comment. The toddler’s death is Hono­lulu’s fourth non-traffic-related fatality involving a vehicle so far this year.