LIHUE — A Kalaheo man was arrested Thursday morning on charges involving a hit-and-run accident that killed a 24-year-old Eleele man on Sunday.
David Curry, 44, was arrested and charged with suspicion of being involved in an accident involving serious bodily injury or death, and has since been release pending further investigation, according to the Kauai Police Department.
The victim was identified as Florentino Maipa.
On Tuesday, Curry turned himself in at the Lihue police station and said he could have been the driver involved in the accident.
About 11:10 p.m. Sunday, a police officer was driving home when he discovered a man’s body on Halewili Road. According to a preliminary investigation, Maipa was walking in the eastbound lane when he was struck by an eastbound vehicle.
The involved vehicle was not at the scene of the accident when police arrived to investigate.
Police initiated a search for the driver of the vehicle and, on Monday, asked the public for help. Based on the debris from the crash site, police narrowed the description of the alleged vehicle as a silver Nissan Frontier truck, with four-wheel drive, made between the years of 1998 and 2004.
After Curry turned himself in, police recovered his vehicle, a 2004 silver Nissan Frontier with four-wheel drive, from his residence, and arrested him Thursday.
An autopsy is pending and an investigation continues.
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Bethany Freudenthal, crime, courts and county reporter, can be reached at 652-7891 or bfreudenthal@thegardenisland.com.
