Department of Public Safety spokesman Eric F. David said DPS received an auto-auto crash report at 2:06 p.m. on Monday.
David said traffic, patrol officers and rescue medics who were dispatched to the scene along Beach Road in front of Courtney’s Plaza building saw a white Toyota 4-Runner facing the north direction with extensive damage in its front portion.
Facing the opposite direction was a white Toyota Camry with extensive damage to its entire left side.
David said the 59-year-old driver of the Camry, Kim Sung Jin, was still in the driver’s seat.
Kim sustained injuries to his face, bruises to the left arm and was suffering from pain in the left side of his rib area.
David said the driver of the 4-Runner, 33-year-old Vicente S. Palacios, suffered pain in the back of his neck area and numbness in his left arm.
Medics and the rescue team immediately brought both drivers to the Commonwealth Health Center for treatment.
Investigation showed that Palacios was traveling on the inner lane in the south direction when , without warning, the white Camry made an abrupt U-Turn from the parking lot of Courtney’s Plaza.
David said two witnesses who were at the Courtney’s Plaza supported Palacios’s statement.
David added that Kim told traffic investigators at the CHC that all he could remember was leaving the Courtney’s Plaza to head back to his office in Chalan Laulau.
Alcohol was ruled out as a factor in the crash.
David said further investigation showed that the operator of the Camry was the cause of the collision as it did not stop or yield to a vehicle who had the right of way.
According to DPS, it is “unlawful to operate any vehicle over, upon, or cross any dividing section, or to make any left turn or semicircular or U-Turn on any such divided lanes on a highway.”
