Drunk Driver Kills 3-Year-Old: Parents Speak Out

May 17, 2008 09:17 PM

"I remember getting in the car and I don't remember nothing after that," said Erica Miles.

Erica Miles and her husband Kamuela sat in a hospital Saturday battered and bruised.

"All this physical pain is nothing. Nothing can compare to the pain that I feel inside," said Kamuela Miles.

That pain inside comes from the loss of their three-year-old son Koa Paka. He was killed Thursday night when the car they were in was hit by a drunk driver on Farrington Highway in Nanakuli.

"Just, he's so smart. I mean it's just everything. I'll miss everything," said Erica Miles.

Erica's memory of the crash is blurred but her husband recalls every heart wrenching detail.

"Right before we were hit, we were driving and I remember a great flash of headlights coming straight at us," said Kamuela Miles.

They were headlights on an out of control pick-up truck. A truck that tore along the driver's side of The Miles' family sedan. When the sedan spun to a stop, Kamuela Miles tore off a door to get to his dying son.

"And when I took my son out of his car seat I held him in my arms, I just sat on the ground and I held him and just told him to come back to daddy and everything is going to be OK," said Kamuela.

"When I felt my son passing it felt like my dad, who had passed away Tuesday, it felt like my dad came to me in the vehicle and he told me to be at peace because Koapaka is safe. He was with my dad," said Kamuela Miles.

Their physical wounds will heal, the emotional scars will take longer.

"Even now it's so hard because it feels like there is so much pain in your heart," said Kamuela Miles.
If there's any good news it's that their one year old daughter, Kaohulani, survived the crash with nothing more than a scratch. She's too young to understand what's happened, but someday mom and dad will explain.

"We haven't even thought about that at all. We're just trying to get through the process we're going through right now and just trying to put the pieces back together as much as we can. But eventually down the line when we get a chance we'll talk to her and explain to her, like we did to my son when my dad passed, we'll explain to her what happened," said Kamuela Miles.

"We're just trying to get through it together and be strong for my daughter," said Erica Miles.