Driver indicted
Woman facing manslaughter
Staff Writer
A Kula woman was arrested Tuesday morning on an indictment charging her with manslaughter in a traffic crash last year that killed 19-year-old Hannah
Brown, whose death helped spur community rallies against drunken driving.
In addition to manslaughter, Lynsey
Jio, 23, was charged with driving under the influence of an intoxicant, excessive speeding and reckless driving in the Maui County grand jury indictment returned Friday. Her bail was set at $100,000.
The crash occurred at 1:27 a.m. June 23 on Kuihelani Highway, 3 miles north of Honoapiilani Highway, in Kahului when a 2016 Subaru Forester driven by Jio was going the wrong way on the road, police said. The Subaru was traveling in the Lahaina direction when it collided head on into a Kahului-bound 2003 Honda Civic that was in the proper northbound lane on the highway, police said.
Brown, who was a passenger in the Civic driven by her 19-year-old boyfriend, suffered fatal injuries and died at the scene, police said. He was transported by ambulance to Maui Memorial Medical Center to be treated for injuries and was later released, police said.
Jio wasn’t injured, police said. At the time, she was arrested, then released pending further investigation.
After the indictment was returned, police Vehicle Homicide
Unit officers arrested Jio at 7:45 a.m. Tuesday.
“Motor vehicle crashes that involve a fatality are very complex and time-consuming investigations,” Lt. William Hankins, commander of the police Traffic Section, said Tuesday. “Our team of investigators spent countless hours to conduct a complete and detailed reconstruction of this crash to determine the speed of the vehicles involved, as well as all factors that contributed to this preventable crash and untimely death of Hannah Brown.”
Her death was among at least 15 traffic deaths in Maui County that were alcohol- or drug-related last year, police said. That amounted to about 65 percent of the 23 traffic fatalities last year.
In July, after a Kihei woman and her 14-year-old son were killed in a crash with a suspected drunken driver, police and prosecutors joined victims’ family members and friends and Mothers Against Drunk Driving volunteers in a signwaving event against drunken driving that drew about 300 participants to Piilani Highway in Kihei.
A few months later, in November, police set up the inaugural Hannah Brown Memorial Intoxication Checkpoint on Kuihelani Highway near the crash scene.
Brown’s family members, including her parents and two brothers, were joined by Mothers Against Drunk Driving volunteers, prosecutors and Maui County Council members at the checkpoint.
On Tuesday afternoon, Hannah’s father, Everett Brown, said the family was “still in limbo.”
“Jio had eight months of freedom, while our family struggled to make sense of life and proceed into our future,” he said by text message. “Yet, to think that if she can post bail, her parents will get to hold her again. Not so easy for us.”
A conviction for manslaughter carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.
“We know the court system won’t give us the justice we seek,” Everett Brown said. “She’ll be facing the maximum penalty that holds a punishment of 20 years. However, she placed us in a life sentence without our daughter. We believe in an eye for an eye, one life sentence for another.”
Lila Fujimoto can be reached at lfujimoto@mauinews.com.