San Jose woman dies in Honolulu after car plummets from downtown parking structure
Oct 14, 2026
HONOLULU (KHON2) -- An 84-year-old San Jose woman died Friday afternoon after the vehicle she was driving plunged from the fifth floor of a downtown Honolulu parking structure.
The driver was identified as Sandra H. Sato by the Honolulu Department of the Medical Examiner.
Emergency crews were call
ed to the area of Bishop and Hotel streets around 2:30 p.m. after reports that a vehicle had fallen from a parking garage and landed upside down on the sidewalk below.
Police said Sato was driving northbound on the fifth floor of the parking structure at 1088 Bishop St. when her vehicle struck and breached a retaining wall.
The vehicle then fell approximately five stories before landing on its roof along South Hotel Street.
Sato was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police said she was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash. Investigators have not yet determined whether speed, drugs or alcohol were factors.
Hotel Street was temporarily closed between Bishop and Bethel streets while police, firefighters and emergency medical personnel investigated.
Police classified the crash as Oahu's fourth non-traffic fatality of 2026. At the same time last year, there had been no non-traffic fatalities recorded.
The investigation remains ongoing.
...read more
read less