California man killed when runaway trailer carrying a canoe crashes into his car

By Star-Bulletin staff

POSTED: 07:01 p.m. HST, Sep 06, 2009

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A 49-year-old California man was killed today after a canoe on a runaway trailer crashed through his windshield in Kona, Big Island police said.

At 8:48 a.m., the trailer carrying three canoes disconnected from a pick-up truck, crossed the median of Queen Kaahumanu Highway and hit the victim’s oncoming 2009 Ford SUV. The accident occured near Makala Boulevard in Kona.

One of the canoes crashed through the windshield and struck the driver, police said.

He was taken to the Kona Community Hospital where he died at 9:45 a.m. His name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin, police said.

The driver of the pickup hauling the trailer, a 36-year-old Lahaina man, and his passengers were not injured.

Traffic enforcement officers have opened a negligent homicide investigation and ordered an autopsy.

This was the 19th traffic fatality on the Big Island this year — and the fifth this weekend — compared to 19 at this time last year.