MEDIA RELEASE

A 36-year-old man has died from injuries he sustained when he fell from a moving vehicle on October 10.

He has been identified as Leo Koichy of Waikoloa.

At 8:43 a.m. on October 10, police responded to Lalamilo Farm Road in Waimea. Koichy had been riding in the back of a flatbed truck that was heading to another farm lot when he feel off the truck and hit his head on the road. He was unresponsive and taken to North Hawaiʻi Community Hospital. He was later transferred to The Queen’s Medical Center on Oahu, where he was pronounced dead at 5:56 p.m. on October 23.

Police initially investigated the case as a negligent injury. It is being reclassified to a negligent homicide. An autopsy has been ordered to determine the exact cause of death.

This is the 11th traffic fatality so far this year compared with 23 at this time last year.