3 killed when truck plows into Honolulu intersection

HONOLULU – A suspected drunken driver remained hospitalized Tuesday facing manslaughter charges, a day after he drove a pickup truck into a crowded intersection, killing three pedestrians, Honolulu Police Chief Susan Ballard said.

“This is probably our most deadliest in many, many years,” Ballard said of Monday evening’s crash.

About 6:10 p.m., an officer was flagged down after a hit-and-run. The officer spotted the pickup and followed it. The officer lost sight of the speeding and weaving truck at one point, Ballard said, and then spotted it again. As the truck approached busy Ala Moana Boulevard, it veered across three lanes, climbed a traffic island, hit six pedestrians and a pole and then plowed into another pickup truck, Ballard said.

Speed and alcohol appeared to be factors, she said.

Two men and a woman were pronounced dead at the scene. Three people, including the driver of the other truck, remained in critical condition Tuesday. One man was treated and released.

The Honolulu medical examiner’s office identified the two men as 26-year-old Casimir Pokorny of Oreland, Pennsylvania, and 39-year-old William Lau of Honolulu. The identification of the 47-year-old woman was pending.

The suspect, 26, was under arrest while hospitalized and was expected to be booked on three counts of manslaughter, Ballard said. He has three prior convictions, including one for felony terroristic threatening, she said.

Police briefly re-closed the intersection Tuesday afternoon to take a measurement that wasn’t obtained Monday, Ballard said.

Ballard said she happened to be in the area for a function when the crashed happened and went to the scene to check on how officers were holding up.

“Everybody was shaken up,” she said.

The department plans to step up drunken-driving enforcement, she said.