Police Identify Second Person Killed in DKI Highway Double Fatality
Police Identify Second Person Killed in DKI Highway Double Fatality
Hawai‘i Island police have identified the second man killed in the fatal two-vehicle collision on Daniel K. Inouye (DKI) Highway that left two men dead on Tuesday morning, May 5, 2026, as 34-year-old Zachery Winston of Newport News, Virginia.
At 11:00 a.m., South Hilo Patrol officers, along with personnel from the Hawai‘i Fire Department and Pōhakuloa Fire and Emergency Services, responded to a report of a head-on collision near the 26-mile marker.
Police determined that a 2011 Toyota Corolla four-door sedan traveling east (Hilo-bound) was overtaking a vehicle and struck a westbound (Kona-bound) 2016 Hyundai Tucson multipurpose vehicle head-on.
Medical personnel began life-saving measures on Winston but he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced deceased at 11:38 a.m.
The driver of the four-door sedan, identified as 70-year-old Todd Matsushita of Hilo, was located unresponsive at the scene. He was transported to the Hilo Benioff Medical Center where he was pronounced deceased at 12:28 p.m.
Autopsies have been ordered to determine the exact causes of deaths.
Speed is believed to be a contributing factor in the crash. Daniel K. Inouye Highway was closed in both directions during the investigation and has since reopened.
The Area I Traffic Enforcement Unit is continuing the investigation. Anyone with information is asked to contact Officer Laurence Davis at (808) 961-2339 or via email at Laurence.Davis@hawaiipolice.gov. Tipsters may also call the department’s non-emergency line at (808) 935-3311.
This is the 6th and 7th traffic fatality on Hawai‘i Island of 2026 as compared to 12 traffic fatalities for the same time last year.
