Three Honolulu Police Department motorcycle officers were injured when they crashed while accompanying President Bush’s motorcade on Hickam Air Force Base this morning.
The president was on his way from Makalapa, where he and first lady Laura Bush spent the night, to Hickam for a breakfast with about 300 troops.
City ambulances took two officers to the Queen’s Medical Center, while the third was taken to Queen’s by federal emergency personnel.
A spokeswoman at the office of Emergency Medical Services Chief Patricia Dukes said one officer was listed in critical condition, one was listed in serious condition and the third suffered minor injuries.
Honolulu Police Chief Boisse Correa declined to release the officers’ names, saying that some family members had not been notified.
Family members confirmed that one officer, 30, was in critical condition and that he had been a solo bike officer for eight years.
Two officers were being examined for possible fractures and internal bleeding, Correa said.
The other officer was said to have pain to his neck, back and arms, he said.
Correa was on his way to have breakfast with the president and troops when he heard through the police radio that three motorcycle police officers were down.
Correa quickly turned around to head to Queen’s. “The officers always come first,” he said. “We’re very concerned.”
The accident happened on a rain-soaked road on Hickam just before 7:15 a.m. It occurred well behind the president’s car and the motorcade did not stop.
Dukes was at the scene of the accident because she is on assignment to provide any medical assistance necessary during the president’s visit, according EMS Assistant Chief Donnie Gates.
(C) 2006 Honolulu Star-Bulletin