Puna Information Update # 2 for May 29th, 2019

Fatal Pedestrian vs. Vehicle collision closes Highway 130 and Kama'ili Road Wednesday Morning (May 29th).

The Hawaii Fire Department (HFD) along with the Hawaii Police Department (HPD) responded to a fatal Vehicle vs. Pedestrian Accident on Highway 130 near the intersection with Kama'ili Road in Lower Puna early Wednesday morning (May 29th).

The initial call came in at 5:16 am Wednesday morning and crews from the Pahoa Fire Station along with Chopper 2 responded to the scene located on Highway 130 near Kama'ili Road (or Opihakao Road) at 15.5 mile marker.

Upon the arrival of HFD crews, the pedestrian (described as a being a female in her 60's) was apparently walking with a dog on Highway 130 when struck by a SUV, which was found further up Highway 130 near the steam vents. The driver of the SUV continued further up Highway 130 to get a cell phone signal to call for help and to report the incident.

As HPD officers arrived on scene, they immediately began life-saving measures on the female patient, who was found unresponsive. The dog, described to be small in size and accompanying the female victim, became aggressive to arriving HPD officers in an attempt to protect the female victim.

Once on scene, HFD immediately took over life-saving measures on the female patient and later declared the patient dead on arrival (DOA) due to traumatic injuries at the scene and turned the scene over to HPD to begin their investigation. The small dog that found at the scene, who was making attempts to protect the female patient and became aggressive towards first responders at the scene, was picked up by Hawaii Island Humane Society personnel and taken to the Kea'au Shelter.

The driver in the vehicle involved was not injured.

Kama'ili Road and Highway 130 was closed for short portion of Wednesday morning while police conducted their investigation into the causes and circumstances of the crash.

Name of the victim is being withheld pending notification of next of kin and positive identification.

HPD Traffic Enforcement Unit continues their investigation into the crash at this time.

This is the 9th traffic fatality for 2019.