Kauai man sentenced in traffic fatality

Kauai Circuit Judge Randal Valenciano sentenced a 54-year-old man to 10 years in prison in connection with the 2014 crash that killed a 28-year-old Kilauea man.

James Monroe of Kilauea also was ordered to pay more than $122,000 in restitution. His driver’s license also was revoked.

Earlier this year, Monroe entered no- contest pleas to charges of first-degree negligent homicide, first-degree negligent injury, third-degree assault and operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant.

On March 4, 2014, Monroe was traveling north on Kuhio Highway in a Ford F-350 pickup truck near Wailapa Road. He crossed the centerline and sideswiped one vehicle before his truck collided head-on with a second vehicle, police said.

The driver of the first vehicle sustained minor injuries. The driver of the second vehicle, Sam Mitzel, died at the scene. His father, Keith Mitzel, a passenger, suffered serious injuries and was flown to the Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu for treatment.

Police said Monroe’s blood alcohol level at the time of the crash was 0.324, about four times the legal limit of 0.08.

Autopsy due to be performed

Police have classified the death of a 71-year-old Hawaii island man as an unattended death pending the outcome of an autopsy.

Norman Saito of Keaau died Wednesday in a Honolulu hospital, where he was taken after falling in a parking lot on the Big Island, according to the Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office.