Media Release (Update No. 2)

Big Island police have completed a negligent homicide investigation into the December 13 motor vehicle/pedestrian collision on Hawai’i Belt Road (Route 19) in the Hamakua District.

On that date, a 54-year-old Hilo man was operating a 2009 Peterbuilt tractor-trailer and traveling west on Route 19 when the tractor-trailer struck a 39-year-old Honoka’a man, who stepped out into the roadway and died from his injuries.

After conducting an autopsy, the pathologist concluded that the manner of death was suicide. As a result, the traffic fatality count for 2010 has been reduced from 28 to 27.