Fuel tanker driver dies in Big Isle crash
A driver of a fuel tanker died Friday after his truck crashed on Hawaii island.
The truck was traveling in the makai direction on Kawaihae Road when it ran off the highway and overturned between the 63- and 64-mile markers shortly after 2 p.m. Friday, police said.
The crash spilled thousands of gallons of fuel, and a replacement tank transferred the remaining fuel from the overturned truck, police said.
Police said the driver was pinned inside the vehicle and died at the scene.
Police withheld the identity of the driver pending positive identification and notification of his family.
The crash closed Kawaihae Road in both directions into the evening.
2-day search finds no more body parts
Police searched for two days in the Waialua area this week where a human foot was found, but discovered no other body parts.
The foot was found Wednesday and turned over to the Medical Examiner’s Office.
Police returned to the site Thursday and continued efforts to determine whether there were other human remains in the area.
About four months ago Honolulu CrimeStoppers issued a missing-persons bulletin about a 30-year-old man last seen at a Waialua farm July 21. Police do not know whether there is a connection between the foot and the missing man.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Man convicted of felony assault
A Kauai jury convicted a 65-year-old Hanapepe man of felony assault Friday for hitting a plant nursery co-worker in the forehead with a sledgehammer last December.
Gregg T. Booth will be sentenced in April.
The assault occurred after Booth and Kauai Nursery and Landscaping co-worker Kaulana Kaneakua got into an argument over exhaust fumes caused by a truck Kaneakua had left running in front of Booth’s workplace.
Escaped inmate caught by police
An inmate who walked away from a work line in Waikapu three weeks ago was returned Thursday to the Maui Community Correctional Center.
Maui police recaptured Reid Kauhaahaa, who escaped from custody Oct. 30 while out on work furlough.
Kauhaahaa was serving five years for second-degree burglary and second-degree theft. His parole hearing was scheduled for February. An escape charge will be added.
Nighttime blaze damages home
Kauai firefighters extinguished a fire Thursday night at a home in Puhi, and police said a neighbor alerted the occupants and helped the two women flee.
A neighbor reported at 10:12 p.m. that smoke was coming from the home on Puhi Road. Lihue firefighters arrived by 10:16 p.m. and kept the fire to the garage and an attached office. The fire was fully extinguished by 10:37 p.m. with the help of Kalaheo and Kapaa fire crews.
Damage to the structure and its contents is estimated at roughly $50,000. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
