Lahaina man arrested in second drunken crash
Keahi sentenced to 18 months in jail
WAILUKU — Less than a year after being arrested for a hit-and-run collision that seriously injured a woman, a Lahaina man was arrested again for another drunken crash.
On Wednesday, Anoai Keahi was sentenced to an 18-month jail term as part of five years’ probation.
“Most people, when they have this life-shattering incident, when they almost kill someone, it wakes them up,” 2nd Circuit Judge Rhonda Loo said in sentencing Keahi. “But somehow, somewhere in that brain of yours, you decided, ‘I’m just going to go and drink again.’ And you drove again.
“You should not have been on the road. You should not have been driving. You should not have been drinking.”
Keahi, 23, had pleaded no contest to leaving the scene of a collision involving serious bodily injury, first-degree negligent injury, unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle, DUI and two counts of driving after his license was suspended or revoked for DUI.
The first collision occurred at 5 a.m. July 24, 2017, as 65-year-old Lahaina resident Estrelita Umiat was on her way to pick up her two grandchildren and driving north on Honoapiilani Highway, said Deputy Prosecutor Annalisa Bernard Lee. She said Keahi, who was heading south, was speeding and under the influence of alcohol when he overtook a vehicle, then crossed left of center and collided head-on into the woman’s vehicle.
She was unconscious and badly injured, while Keahi fled “in an act of fear and cowardice,” Bernard Lee said.
She said a police investigation showed that on the night of July 23, 2017, Keahi, his girlfriend and her roommates were at a party on the west side and were very intoxicated when Keahi stole a roommate’s car keys and took her car. He was driving that car in the collision, Bernard Lee said.
She said Keahi lied to police, who spoke to numerous witnesses and “had to connect the dots” to learn what happened.
The morning of the crash, his co-workers could smell alcohol on Keahi, and he told them he wasn’t feeling well and was tired, Bernard Lee said. She said Keahi admitted being in a collision to his co-workers and to his cousin, who at first lied to police for him.
Umiat suffered a 4-inch laceration near her left eyebrow, multiple fractures to her ribs and fingers and a broken pelvis, Bernard Lee said. Umiat had to be extracted from her vehicle and was taken by ambulance to Maui Memorial Medical Center, then medevaced to Queen’s Medical Center on Oahu, where she spent more than two months recovering from her injuries, Bernard Lee said.
“Two years later, she’s still suffering from the pain and injuries that she received from this accident,” Bernard Lee said.
She said Keahi had been arraigned on charges in the collision and was ordered not to consume alcohol or drive before he was arrested June 8 for DUI after he ran a stop sign on a moped and collided with a couple in another vehicle.
Keahi admitted to drinking a 12-pack of beer and had a blood-alcohol level measured at 0.217 percent, “which is extremely high,” Bernard Lee said.
She said Umiat didn’t want to appear in court for Keahi’s sentencing Wednesday “because this is still very traumatic.”
Her daughter, Alley Umiat, said she is a single parent and the only one providing for her parents after her father lost his job when he was on Oahu taking care of her mother.
“I have forgiven you,” she said to Keahi. “All I ask is for you to help me, help me pay my mom’s medical bills.”
Speaking in court, Keahi said he was sorry.
“There is no excuse for the wrong that I have done,” he said. “If I would have the opportunity to take care of the people I hurt, for the rest of my life I would take that on.”
Keahi cut ties with the people he had been drinking with the night before the crash and has a different girlfriend, said Deputy Public Defender Ben Lowenthal.
Judge Loo, who followed a plea agreement in sentencing Keahi, said she would have sentenced him to 10 years in prison if not for the Umiat family saying they didn’t want him to go to prison.
“Start giving them some money to help with their bills,” she told Keahi. “Hopefully, your words are true.”
Keahi was ordered not to consume alcohol or illegal drugs and to write letters apologizing to Umiat and the couple in the other crash.
He was ordered to pay $500 in restitution to cover the insurance deductible of the couple. A hearing on restitution for Umiat was set for March 13.
A four-year license revocation for Keahi was ordered to start when he is released from jail.
* Lila Fujimoto can be reached at lfujimoto@mauinews.com.