Kihei Man Suffers Fatal Injuries in Piilani Highway Crash

By Wendy Osher

A Maui man suffered fatal injuries in a traffic accident on the Piilani Highway Thursday night. The man has since been identified as Robert V. Pimentel Jr., 48, of Kihei.

According to police reports, Pimentel was traveling northwest on the Piilani Highway at around 10:43 p.m. when he lost control of the vehicle he was driving. The 1998 silver Toyota 4Runner SUV traveled onto the right shoulder and then traveled left over multiple lanes, colliding with a metal guard rail. The vehicle overturned, ejecting Pimentel Jr. and a male passenger.

Pimentel Jr. died at the scene. The other occupant, a 37-year-old Kihei man, was transported to the Maui Memorial Medical Center in stable condition.  Neither Pimentel nor his passenger were wearing seatbelts.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation. The traffic fatality was the seventh on Maui County roads this year, compared to eight at the same time last year.