Kaiser teen dies in solo truck crash

Scores of tearful friends and family members lined the sidewalks of a Hawaii Kai neighborhood Friday afternoon near the site of a single-vehicle crash where a beloved 17-year-old Kaiser High School senior was killed.

Friends identified the victim as Jake Braz, who was described as a fun-loving guy who enjoyed boxing, surfing and pitched for Kaiser’s baseball team in 2017.

“We loved him,” said Kaiser varsity baseball coach Kila Kaaihue. “He loved his teammates and his teammates loved him. He’s just a good person. It’s just shocking more than anything. Who would have thought it would be Jake?”

Friend GG Costa, 17, said, “He was always happy and outgoing. I laughed every single time I was with him. Best, best friend. He’d come over all the time to talk. He was there during my happy times and my sad times.”

Police said the teen was speeding as he drove northbound on Lunalilo Home Road when he crashed his green-and-cream colored 1964 Ford F-100 pickup truck at about 2:35 p.m., and died at the scene.

Police Vehicular Homicide Section Lt. James Slayter said police learned the driver, who was the sole occupant of the pickup, was trying to catch up to his friends in another vehicle ahead.

Police said speed was a factor in the crash.

The teen had been driving in the left lane when he lost control, swerved to the right lane and crashed his truck into a traffic light pole and a stone wall on Lunalilo Home Road near the intersection with Ahukini Street.

Police initially received reports that he was possibly racing, but that was not the case, Slayter said.

There were several witnesses to the crash, and the victim’s friends returned to the scene of the accident.

Police said the death was the 42nd traffic fatality so far this year on Oahu, compared with 28 at the same time last year.

Among those at the accident scene were relatives of Braz, including his mother, who declined to say anything as the boy’s body was extricated from the mangled truck.

Jon Burgess’ son Elijah, also 17, shared adventures with Braz.

“He was like a son to us,” Burgess said. “I have five boys. He was like my sixth.”

“He was a fun-loving adventurer,” he said. “He loved my wife’s musubis and chocolate chip cookies.”

He said he was the kind of person who “you let down your guard and make friends with.”

His son and Braz boxed and worked out together after school and surfed at Sandy’s.

“He wanted to go into the Air Force after he graduated,” Burgess said. “Now my son’s got to graduate without his best friend.”

“He’s definitely going to leave a big hole at Kaiser,” he said.

Kaaihue said Braz was a special person and that the Kaiser community embraced him since the time he transferred from St. Louis School.

“Everybody’s sad; everybody’s hurt,” he said. “The whole community, especially the Kaiser community, came to a stop.”

He said he was one of the few students with whom he had as much of a relationship off the field as on because he was easy to be around.

Kaaihue said he felt when he heard the news, “I failed him. One of those regretful things. Wish you had more time with the person.”

A Kaiser High School classmate named Taylor, who declined to give her last name, said he was “a good kid.”

“He had a lot of friends who cared about him,” she said.

Justin Yuen 17, said he knew him in Kahala Elementary School.

“He liked to have fun, liked spending time with his friends,” he said.

Tomoko Bryant, 40, who lives a block above and a street over from the crash site, said she heard the sound of the brakes and then heard the loud “noise of the car crashing.” “It’s so sad,” she said.