Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Wednesday, April 24, 2024 79° Today's Paper


Top News

Wrong-way freeway driver pleads not guilty to negligent homicide

Nelson Daranciang
1/1
Swipe or click to see more
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM
The wrecked BMW sedan driven Waianae resident Jameson Yong, 21, at left, and the pickup driven by Lance Miyashiro, 40, sat at a Sand Island tow yard Saturday.

The wrong-way driver in a fatal head-on collision on the H-2 freeway nearly two years ago pleaded not guilty to negligent homicide this morning in state court.

Jameson Yong, 23, is scheduled to stand trial in November. He remains free on $15,000 bail.

Honolulu police said Yong was driving his car southbound on the northbound lanes of the freeway in the early-morning hours of Nov. 19. 2011 when he crashed head on into a pickup truck about a half mile south of the Ka Uka Boulevard exit. The impact caused the pickup to flip on its side and the car crashing into the median. A northbound sport-utility vehicle then crashed into the pickup truck.

The pickup driver, 40-year-old Lance Miyashiro of Wahiawa, was pronounced dead at the scene. He was on his way home from his job as a bouncer at the Mai Tai Bar in Ala Moana Center.

Yong, who had to be extricated from his car by firefighters, went to Queen’s Medical Center in extremely critical condition where friends said he underwent multiple surgeries.

The SUV driver, a 58-year-old man, went to the hospital in serious condition.

Yong’s parents, who own the car their son was driving, and their insurance carrier agreed last year to a $20,000 settlement with Miyashiro’s parents. The $20,000 is the per person liability limit of the Yongs’ insurance policy.

Comments are closed.