Driver of stolen car dead after crash

A police pursuit of a stolen SUV ended with the suspect’s death after he crashed into two other vehicles early Saturday morning in Kalihi, police said.

Police initially got a call about a stolen Honda CRV in Manoa at about 12:30 a.m. and spotted the SUV shortly afterward near Dole Street and University Avenue, said Honolulu police Chief Susan Ballard at a news conference Saturday at police headquarters.

Officers attempted to stop the driver, but he drove onto the H-1 freeway from University Avenue and headed Ewa. Two officers, with lights and sirens on, pursued the driver on the freeway and onto the Vineyard Boulevard offramp.

The driver continued Ewa-bound on Vineyard before striking two vehicles at the Palama Street intersection, ejecting the driver from the SUV. Police said the crash occurred at about 12:40 a.m. Ballard estimated the pursuit lasted about two to three minutes.

Ballard said the driver, who was not wearing a seat belt, was thrown out of the driver’s side window and into a traffic sign in the median. He was taken to The Queen’s Medical Center, where he died. No one else was seriously injured.

She said one vehicle was turning left onto Palama and another vehicle was stopped at the traffic light when they were hit. The driver of the vehicle stopped at the light had leg injuries.

Paulino Abad, who lives on Palama Street, said he awoke Saturday morning to the sound of tires squealing and multiple collisions. He went outside and saw an SUV stopped in front of his home.

A woman in the driver’s seat told him she was struck by another driver and was waiting to talk with police. He said the woman had four young children in her SUV, but no one was injured.

Another resident on Vineyard Boulevard said he heard the crash and went outside to see a person lying on the grassy median below the H-1 freeway near a traffic sign. He said one vehicle was near the person and a sedan was stopped further up the road, facing in the wrong direction.

Ballard said the suspect appeared to be about 30 years old and his identity was unknown.

Police opened investigations for auto theft, unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle, an unattended death and a motor vehicle collision.

Ballard said the department will conduct an internal review of the pursuit, but it appears the officers followed Police Department policy and will continue on full duty. She did not have details on how fast the suspect or the officers were driving during the pursuit.

Police closed the Ewa-bound lanes of Vineyard Boulevard to investigate and said the road was fully reopened by 7 a.m.

The incident prompted one of the first news conferences by Ballard about a criminal investigation since she became chief last month, following the retirement of former Chief Louis Kealoha, who was indicted in the fall along with his deputy prosecutor wife in a federal public corruption case.

On Saturday, Ballard said she planned to speak on behalf of the Police Department, at least for the first year of her administration, whenever there is a death involving an officer, such as a shooting or a motor vehicle collision.

She said she wanted to provide information to the public and show the department is not concealing anything, adding that her administration will be the first to say an investigation is needed when actions by officers appear questionable.