HAWAII POLICE DEPARTMENT
TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT UNIT
SERGEANT CHRISTOPHER D. GALI
PHONE: 961-2332
JANUARY 16, 2006

MEDIA RELEASE

A 77-year-old Ka’u man died Monday (January 16, 2006) from injuries he sustained in a motor vehicle/cement truck crash on the Hawaii Belt Road (Route 11) and Kona Kai Boulevard in the area of Hawaiian Ocean View Estates in the Ka’u District.

The victim was identified as Joseph A. Jensen of Hawaiian Ocean View Estates.

Responding to a 9:00 a.m. call, Ka’u patrol officers determined that a 2004 Kenworth cement truck was traveling south making a left turn from Route 11 onto Kona Kai Boulevard when a 2001 Nissan four-door sedan also traveling south attempted to pass the cement truck in a no passing zone and side-swiped the truck. The vehicle then ran off the left side of the road and struck a tree.

The victim, a passenger in the Nissan was transported to the Kona Community Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 12:15 p.m.

The driver of the Nissan, a 74-year-old Hawaiian Ocean View Estates woman and the driver of the cement truck, a 50-year-old Naalehu man were not injured.

Traffic Enforcement Unit officers have initiated a negligent homicide investigation and have ordered an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death.

This is the 2nd traffic fatality on the Big Island this year, compared to none at the same time last year.

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