Hawai‘i Police Department
Traffic Enforcement Unit – Area I
Sergeant Jeremy Riddle
Phone: (808) 960-5249
Report No.: 22-093050
Media Release
Hawai‘i Island police have identified the driver of the 2011 Mazda sedan involved in a fatal single-vehicle traffic collision in Pahoa on Wednesday evening, October 19, 2022, as 49-year-old April Buxton of Puna. The collision was reported at 10:13 p.m. in the area of Kahakai Boulevard and Welea Street.
Responding to the collision, investigators with the department’s East Hawaii Traffic Enforcement Unit determined that a 2011 Mazda sedan traveling makai (east) on Kahakai Boulevard, did not negotiate the right curve onto Welea Street at the dead end and went off the left side of the roadway into a rock wall. The roadway was dry at the time of the collision.
Speed and inattention are the two primary factors in the outcome of this collision. Further investigation will be conducted relative to any additional contributing factors.
The East Hawaii Traffic Enforcement Unit continues their investigation as a coroner’s inquest, which remains pending. Officer Jared Cabatu is the lead investigator and can be contacted at (808) 961-2339 or via email at Jared.Cabatu@HawaiiCounty.gov. Tipsters who prefer to remain anonymous may call Crime Stoppers at (808) 961-8300.
