HAWAII COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT
TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT UNIT
SERGEANT LEROY VICTORINO
PHONE: 961-2332]
DECEMBER 29, 2003
H-74983/KN

MEDIA RELEASE

Police are investigating a traffic fatality that occurred Saturday (December 27, 2003) on the Hawaii Belt Road (Route 190) near the 21-mile marker in Kona.

The name of the victim, who was also the driver, is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

Responding to an 8:36 p.m. call, Kona patrol officers determined that a vehicle traveling toward Waimea apparently ran off the road, overturned and plunged down an 80-foot embankment.

The victim was taken to the Kona Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 1:15 a.m. Sunday.

Details about the crash were not immediately available, and Traffic Enforcement Unit officers are continuing an investigation into the traffic crash and death.

Anyone with information about the traffic death or the crash is asked to call Officer Eric Cerezo of the TEU at 326-4646, Sergeant Leroy Victorino of the TEU at 961-2332 or the police non-emergency number at 935-3311.

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