Motorcyclist killed in crash may have been intentionally hit
Investigators look at the front-end damage on a sports utility vehicle found in a parking lot near the Pearl City Home Depot store Thursday and a self-storage facility near the scene of a fatal hit-and-run crash on the H-1 freeway Wednesday night.
A tip led police to a sports utility vehicle parked near the Pearl City Home Depot store that may have been involved in a fatal hit-and-run crash on the H-1 freeway. The SUV had front end damage and what appeared to be pieces of a motorcycle, police said.
Honolulu police closed the H-1 freeway between the Kunia offramp and Waikele offramp in the town-bound direction while detectives investigated a fatal hit-and-run motorcycle crash Wednesday night.
The Honolulu Medical Examiner’s office identified the motorcyclist killed in a possibly deliberate hit-and-run crash Wednesday night on the H-1 freeway as Keith Jantoc, 25, of Mililani.
An autopsy conducted on Thursday did not immediately determine the cause of Jantoc’s death.
Police said no arrests have been made as of early Thursday afternoon, but an SUV suspected to have been involved in the crash was recovered in Pearl City earlier in the day.
Police have opened a second-degree murder investigation based on information provided by witnesses and are investigating whether the driver of the SUV intentionally struck the motorcyclist in the townbound lanes of the freeway near the Kunia onramp about 10 p.m. Wednesday.
Jantoc was taken in critical condition to the hospital where he died.
Police are investigating whether the SUV involved in the crash was abandoned in a parking lot near the Pearl City Home Depot store, after receiving a tip about 7 a.m.
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The SUV had motorcycle pieces in the grill, police said.
Police have not determined if the SUV was stolen, a Honolulu Police Department spokeswoman said.
No motive is known, the spokeswoman said.
