Bingham Street residents heard screeching brakes and a loud bang Monday before they saw the body of a man in the eastbound lanes of the H-1 freeway — their homes separated from it by low concrete barriers and the one-way street.
Police said a Honolulu man in his 30s, who had been standing on the McCully Street overpass, jumped into traffic on the freeway below.
The man was struck five feet from the overpass but came to rest closer to the Bingham Street exit.
A large Roberts Hawaii tour bus and a Toyota pickup truck were stopped on the freeway.
Afternoon traffic was snarled after police shut down eastbound lanes for four hours, closing off the Ward Avenue and Vineyard Street onramps, and rerouting freeway traffic onto Punahou Street, clogging traffic on surface streets.
The shutdown lasted four hours until 7:35 p.m. from about 3:40 p.m. while police investigated the death.
Roberts Hawaii representatives at the scene would not comment except to say that no passengers were aboard the large tour bus.
"I just heard the bus’ brakes being applied, and then I heard one boom," said Bingham Street resident Bryan Chong, 30. He presumed the boom was "from when the bruddah wen’ hit the bus or hit the ground."
His father, John Chong, 74, said he has lived at the Bingham Street home for 30 years but "never see anything like this."
He said he was shaken.
"Sad," he added.
Jose Domingo, 81, and his wife awoke from an afternoon nap when they heard a loud noise.
"I heard the bang," he said. "I come out. I see the man already on the road."
Police covered the man’s body with a sheet. His athletic shoes were on the asphalt about 75 feet apart.
