Honolulu police are still investigating whether a third vehicle forced two cars off the Pali Highway Wednesday night, killing a Honolulu man.“We're going to look into if they're indeed related or if say another vehicle caused both of these vehicles to crash,” said Lt. Darren Izumo of the police department’s Vehicular Homicide Section.
The two accidents happened just after 7 p.m. in the Honolulu bound lanes of the Pali Highway. Police say the male driver of a Honda Civic lost control and struck a rock wall on Coelho Way.
The man was taken to the Queen’s Medical Center in critical condition where he was pronounced dead a short time later.
Relatives identified the victim as Michael Borges, 43 of Nuuanu. “He was like less than a mile away from home when it happened,” said Tricia Miyashiro, the victim’s sister.
Borges’ wife Francis was in the passenger seat of the car and according to Miyashiro suffered a broken hip and other injuries.
Police say seconds after Borges lost control of his car the driver of a Chevy Equinox minivan also veered off the highway. All three women inside the minivan were taken to the hospital in serious condition.
Investigators are hoping more witnesses will come forward so police can piece together exactly what happened.
“Everybody's really confused as to what happened,” said Sgt. Kim Buffett of Honolulu CrimeStoppers. “We have very conflicting statements from people that were at the scene.”
While police are still gathering information on the fatal crash the victim’s wife told relatives a third vehicle did in fact cause Borges to lose control.
“She remembers just being cut off and Mike losing control of the car and slamming into the wall,” said Miyashiro.
Borges’ mother Bernadette is hoping whoever caused the collision will come forward so the family can start putting the tragedy behind them. “Whoever caused it if they can come forward and let us you know, have closure.”
Anyone with information about the two collisions are asked to call Honolulu CrimeStoppers at 955-8300.
FAMILY MAN
Relatives say Michael Borges was a dedicated father of two boys, ages 11 and 14, who was meticulous about attending their various sporting events.
“Their father's influence will be important in their life and valuable to them and the fact they won't have that, it's upsetting,” said Miyashiro.
Borges was the oldest of six siblings and as a construction worker had a knack for fixing just about anything.
“Anytime something broke I knew I didn't have to call a carpenter or anybody to come fix it,” said his sister. “Just call my older brother and he'd come fix up my gate or anything else at my house.”
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