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Lahaina man dies in car wash accident

A 44-year-old Lahaina man was killed Monday while trying to park a vehicle at a car wash.

Police said Scott Kawabata was attempting to park a multipurpose Hyundai vehicle at 8:35 a.m. at the Wash It Hawaii in Lahaina.

Kawabata was partially outside of the vehicle when it inadvertently reversed back through the car wash. The vehicle hit the interior of the car wash several times and Kawabata was ejected from the vehicle. The vehicle then struck a silver Nissan multipurpose vehicle, which was stopped at the entrance of the car wash.

Kawabata died at the scene. The operator of the Nissan was not injured.

Potential involvement drugs and alcohol has not been determined and is under investigation.

This is Maui’s 16th traffic fatality in 2016, compared with 18 at same last year.

17 responses to “Lahaina man dies in car wash accident”

  1. TTPwr says:

    “The vehicle collided into the interior of the car wash” How about an editor, if not a reporter, who knows english?

  2. paniolo says:

    My deepest ALOHA to his ohana..

  3. chris617 says:

    “Outside of” is a double preposition. Editor, where are you?

  4. chris617 says:

    A missing comma, an extra comma, and a missing period are just a few of the mistakes in this article. Also, editor, do you know the difference between “compare” and “contrast”?

  5. cojef says:

    Tough way to die! Condolences to the ohana.

  6. ukuleleblue says:

    People should never operate a vehicle with the door open even for a very short distance. Many people when parking, open their door and lean out to adjust their parking more precisely. Don’t ever do this! Anything can happen in a freak accident and if you fall out the consequences can be tragic. Just stop, put in park and turn engine off and then get out to check behind your car. This takes longer but is safety first.

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