HAWAII COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT
TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT UNIT
OFFICER CHRISTOPHER GALI
PHONE: 961-2332
JUNE 17, 2000
G-32132
MEDIA RELEASE UPDATE
Police have identified a man who was killed Thursday (June 15, 2000) as Robert Thatcher, 56, of Kealakekua, Kona.
Thatcher was killed in an accident on Hawaii Belt Road (Route 11) about a tenth of a mile north of the Konawaena High School intersection when he attempted to pass two vehicles in a no passing zone.
His 1995 Harley Davidson motorcycle hit the rear end of a 1985 Ford pickup truck crossing the highway from a driveway on the mauka side of the road to another driveway on the makai side, then crossed the centerline and sideswiped a 1998 Ford pickup truck traveling south on the highway and finally ending up on an embankment on the makai side of the road.
The victim’s name had been withheld until notification of next of kin.
His death was the 16th traffic fatality of the year on the Big Island, compared to 10 at the same time last year.
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