Hawai’i Police Department
Traffic Enforcement Unit
Sergeant Christopher D. Gali
Phone: 961-2332
May 24, 2010
Report No. C10014658
Media Release
A 48-year-old Hilo man died Sunday (May 23) at The Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu from injuries he received in a motor vehicle/motorcycle crash on Friday (May 21) on Manono Street in front of the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium in Hilo.
The motorcyclist was identified as Jeffrey J. Earwood of a Hilo address.
Responding to an 11:05 a.m. call, South Hilo patrol officers determined that Earwood was operating a 1999 Harley Davidson motorcycle and traveling south on Manono Street when a 45-year-old Hilo man operating a 2006 Toyota van pulled out of the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium in front of the motorcycle.
Earwood was not wearing a helmet. Fire rescue personnel took him to Hilo Medical Center. He was later flown to The Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu in critical condition.
The driver of the Toyota van was not injured.
Earwood was pronounced dead at 10:35 p.m. Sunday at Queen’s.
It is unknown at this time if alcohol, drugs or speed were involved.
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 14th traffic fatality on the Big Island this year compared with seven at this time last year.
