HAWAII COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT
TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT UNIT
SERGEANT LEROY VICTORINO
PHONE: 961-2332
MAY 19, 2003
H-49419
MEDIA RELEASE
An 18-year-old Puna man died Saturday (May 17, 2003) after a vehicle he was driving collided with a pickup truck on the Keaau-Pahoa Highway (Route 130) in Keaau, Puna.
Responding to an 11:36 a.m. call, Puna police officers determined that a 1999 Acura driven south by Sunny Kang, 18, of Kurtistown, lost control while changing lanes and collided broadside with another vehicle traveling north.
Fire rescue personnel took Kang to the Hilo Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 12:16 p.m.
There were no passengers in Kang’s vehicle.
The driver and a passenger in the other vehicle, a 1994 Nissan pickup truck, were taken to the Hilo Medical Center for treatment of injuries. The injured occupants were identified as Santiago Tadeo, 82, and Rosalita Tadeo, 79, of Hawaiian Beaches.
High speed and adverse weather conditions appear to be factors in the collision, and Traffic Enforcement Unit officers are continuing an investigation. They have ordered an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death.
Saturday’s death was the 11th traffic fatality recorded so far on the Big Island this year.
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