Hawaii Police Department
Traffic Enforcement Unit
Sergeant Christopher D. Gali
Phone: 961-2332
October 16, 2007
Report No. C07033142

Media Release (update)

A Big Island man killed Saturday (October 13) from injuries he sustained in a motor vehicle/motorcycle crash has been identified as 55-year-old Edward L. Billman of Naalehu. His name was originally withheld pending notification of next of kin.

Responding to a 2:05 p.m. call Saturday, Kona patrol officers determined that Billman was operating a Harley Davidson motorcycle along with his female passenger and traveling north on Hawaii Belt Road at the 106-mile marker when a 49-year-old Captain Cook man driving south in a 1999 Ford Ranger pickup truck made a left turn in front of the motorcycle.

Fire Department personnel took the female motorcycle passenger to Kona Community Hospital in critical condition. She was to be flown to The Queens Medical Center on Oahu. Neither Billman nor his passenger was wearing a helmet.

The driver of the pickup truck and his 37-year-old female passenger were not injured. They were both wearing their seat belts.

Billman was transported to Kona Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 4:45 p.m.

The driver of the pickup truck, Anthony Henriques, was arrested for negligent homicide and negligent injury. He was later released without charges pending further investigation. It is unknown at this time if alcohol or drugs were involved but speed did play a factor in the crash.

Police ask anyone with information about the crash to call Officer Joshua Lewis at 326-4646, extension 229.

This was the 32^nd traffic fatality on the Big Island this year compared with 29 at this time last year.