On June 23, 2019, 19-year-old Hannah Brown was killed when a drunk driver traveling in the wrong lane of Kuihelani Highway collided into the teen’s car. Officers from the Maui Police Department’s Traffic Division, members of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the family of Brown, and community members gathered in front of the Wailuku Police Station on Nov. 22 to inaugurate the First Annual Hannah Brown Memorial Impaired Driving Awareness Checkpoint.
The event, the first of its kind in Maui County, is an “out of the box” approach to changing the mindset of people who drive impaired on drugs and or alcohol, according to MPD. “All of these impaired driving fatalities are preventable,” said Lieutenant William Hankins of the MPD’s Traffic Division. “Do something – take care of your loved ones and help us prevent any more senseless deaths on our highways.”
Impaired driving crashes are preventable and the MPD urges community members to work together to help save lives. “We hope that by memorializing Hannah at this event every year, especially as we enter the most dangerous time of the year for driving, people will stop and think before they get behind the wheel,” Hankins said. “Please remember there are families like the Browns and too many others in Maui that have had to suffer the senseless and preventable loss of a loved one at the hands of an intoxicated driver… Please help us stop these heart-breaking losses. Make the right decision and if you intend to drink this holiday season, please do not drink and drive. Working together as a community to address this problem, we can make a difference and help save lives.”
