UPDATED MEDIA RELEASE (5/24/10)
After conferring with prosecutors, police released the driver and passenger involved in a motor vehicle/motorcycle crash that occurred on Sunday (May 23) in North Kona.
On Sunday, the driver, 31-year-old Rance Rapozo of Kailua-Kona, was arrested on suspicion of negligent homicide, accident involving death or serious bodily injury, operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant and consuming/possessing intoxicating liquor while operating a motor vehicle. His passenger, 26-year-old David Bandalan of Kailua-Kona, was arrested on suspicion of accident involving death or serious bodily injury and consuming/possessing intoxicating liquor while a passenger in a motor vehicle.
Both men were released Monday pending further investigation.
Officers from the Traffic Enforcement Unit are continuing the investigation.
UPDATED MEDIA RELEASE (5/24/10 8:21 a.m.)
A 62-year-old Kealakekua man died Sunday (May 23) after being involved in a motor vehicle/motorcycle crash at the intersection of Route 190 and Mahilani Drive in North Kona.
Responding to a 6:45 p.m. call, Kona patrol and Traffic Enforcement Unit officers determined that a 31-year-old Kailua-Kona man was operating a 2006 Toyota pick-up truck and traveling north on Route 190 when he started to make a left turn onto Mahilani Drive. The motorcycle operator, also traveling north, started to overtake the Toyota pick-up truck in a no-passing zone when they collided. He was not wearing a helmet.
Fire rescue personnel took the motorcycle operator to Kona Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:30 p.m.
The Toyota pick-up driver and his passenger abandoned the vehicle on Mahilani Drive and walked away from the scene. They were located at a home in the Kona Palisades subdivision.
The driver was arrested for negligent homicide, accident involving death or serious bodily injury, operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant and consuming/possessing intoxicating liquor while operating a motor vehicle.
The passenger in the vehicle, a 26-year-old Kailua-Kona man was arrested for accident involving death or serious bodily injury and consuming/possessing intoxicating liquor while a passenger in a motor vehicle.
Both men are being held pending further investigation.
The name of the motorcycle operator is being withheld pending positive identification and notification of the next of kin.
Traffic Enforcement Unit officers have ordered an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death.
Police ask anyone with information about this case to call Officer Thomas Koyanagi at 326-4646, extension 229.
(POSTED 5/24/10 at 1:19 a.m.)
Fire/rescue crews responded to a 6:49 p.m. alarm Sunday (May 23) for a motorcycle crash at the intersection of the Mamalahoa Highway (Hwy 190) and Mahilani Drive in Kona.
Crews found the rider dead on the scene. The fire department reported that the victim was traveling north on the Mamalahoa Highway when he hit the embankment on the north side of Mahilani Street and was apparently thrown from the motorcycle and landed on the embankment near a utility pole. The motorcycle stopped 15 feet farther north along the embankment. It was unknown if the victim struck the pole
The cause of the crash is unknown at this time.
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