Boy’s parents to help fund fire department
The parents of a New York teenager who was swept out to sea off the Kona Coast while on an adventure tour will use some of the settlement money from their lawsuit against the tour company for an endowment to the Hawaii Fire Department.
The lawyers for the parents of 15-year-old Tyler Madoff said the parents want to express their gratitude for the Fire Department’s efforts in looking for their son and want to see the good work performed by its search and rescue crew continue. They said the parents will also use some of the settlement money to endow a new initiative to help promote the safety of teens who go on adventure tours.
A large wave swept Madoff off some rocks at Kaawaloa Point just outside Kealakekua Bay on July 4, 2012. His body was never found.
Madoff’s parents sued Colorado-based Bold Earth Teen Adventures and the company’s local contractor, Hawaii Pack and Paddle, and reached a settlement.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Victim killed in traffic crash was Kona man
Hawaii County police identified a 52-year-old Kona man who died Wednesday after the truck he was driving crossed the centerline and hit an embankment on the shoulder of the road.
Matthew B. Lee was taken to North Hawaii Community Hospital, where he died, police said.
Lee was driving a 1997 Ford F-250 pickup truck loaded with several empty propane gas tanks heading south on Queen Kaahumanu Highway between the 71- and 72-mile markers when he veered across the centerline and into the northbound lane and sideswiped a 2013 Dodge Dart four-door sedan at about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, police said. The sedan was driven by a 62-year-old man from Alberta with three other adults as passengers. No one in the sedan was injured.
After colliding with the car, Lee’s truck struck an embankment on the north-bound shoulder and came to a stop.
Police ask anyone who witnessed the crash to call officer Christopher Kapua-Allison at 808 326-4646, ext. 229.
Holualoa man ID’d as victim of accident
Hawaii County police have identified a man who died Wednesday after an incident at a construction site as Donny Loando of Holualoa.
Police said Loando, 38, was operating a single-drum roller to build a private driveway when the vehicle rolled backward down a steep slope and crashed into the carport of a neighboring residence.
Loando was thrown from the roller and sustained critical injuries at about 1 p.m. Wednesday. He was taken to Kona Community Hospital, where he died at 4:15 p.m.
