A teen girl made national headlines this weekend after she drove the wrong way and crashed into another driver, sending him to the hospital.
KHON2 reports that on Saturday, at approximately 1:25 a.m., an unidentified 19-year-old woman was heading southbound on the Hickham Overpass when she collided with another vehicle.
The impact caused the 20-year-old man behind the wheel to lose control of his car and crash into a concrete wall, sending the car airborne landing upside down on the H1 Freeway underneath the overpass.
Police and firefighters responded to the scene. Once the man was extricated from the wreckage of his vehicle, paramedics rushed him to an area hospital in critical condition.
The woman was also hospitalized and was listed in serious condition before Honolulu Police officers arrested her for driving under the influence of alcohol. An investigation into the matter is still pending.
The crash occurred just hours before Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) was to hold its annual 5K fundraising walk in Kakaako.
The arrest hit close to home and was a painful reminder for MADD’s national president, Tess Rowland.
“On May 4, 2021, I was living my dream as a television news reporter when I was hit head-on by a wrong-way drunk driver who had drugs in his car,” Rowland told reporters. “Since then, I have had seven surgeries, four large scars, and live in chronic pain, all for a crash that didn’t need to happen. Drunk driving isn’t an accident. It isn’t a mistake. It’s a choice.”
