HAWAII POLICE DEPARTMENT
TRAFFIC SERVICES SECTION
SERGEANT DEXTER VERIATO
PHONE: 961-2305
SEPTEMBER 6, 2006

Sandra Todd joins Officer DuWayne Waipa at a Labor Day DUI checkpoint on Banyan Drive.

MEDIA RELEASE

Big >Island> police dedicated two DUI roadblocks over the Labor Day weekend to victims of fatal drunk driving crashes. 

In West Hawaii, police set up a roadblock at the entrance to >Waikoloa> >Village> on Sunday, September 3, and dedicated it to >>Honolulu>> police officer Dannygriggs Padayao and Waimea resident Miriam "Nani" Fernandez. Padayao and Fernandez were killed in separate drunk driving crashes in 2001.   

Gigi Macion, an advocate for Mothers Against Drunk Driving and sister of Padayao and Fernandez, went to the site along with other family members. They carried posters and distributed MADD literature to motorists.

The Macion family rewarded sober drivers with bottled water donated by KTA Superstores and Foodland Supermarket in Waimea, along with cold watermelon slices they donated themselves. At the roadblock, officers from the Hawaii Police Department’s traffic enforcement unit screened 500 cars over a two-hour period.

In >East Hawaii>, a roadblock was set up on Monday, September 4, at >>Banyan Drive. It was>> dedicated to Steven Rapoza, who was killed by a drunk and drugged driver in 1996. His mother, Sandra Todd distributed flyers to motorists. She, too is a MADD victims advocate and she explained the tragedy of her son’s death.

>>Waiakea> >High School>>’s Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) and the Big Island Substance Abuse Council’s outreach counselor and his family also waved signs and distributed MADD ribbons and literature at the Banyan Drive site. More than 245 vehicles passed through the >East Hawaii> roadblock.

# # #