Sandra H. Sato, 84, died after her SUV broke through a fifth-floor retaining wall and landed on South Hotel Street.
HONOLULU — An 84-year-old San Jose, California, woman has been identified as the driver killed after her SUV broke through a retaining wall in a downtown Honolulu parking structure and fell about five stories to the sidewalk below.
Sandra H. Sato died after the Oct. 9 crash at 1088 Bishop St., according to police and local reporting. The Honolulu Department of the Medical Examiner identified Sato on Monday, Oct. 12. The cause of the crash remains under investigation, and authorities have not determined whether speed, drugs or alcohol were factors.
The Honolulu Police Department said the crash happened at about 2:28 p.m. while Sato was driving north on the fifth floor of a private parking structure. Her vehicle struck and breached a retaining wall before falling approximately five stories and landing on its roof on the sidewalk along South Hotel Street.
Emergency medical personnel pronounced Sato dead at the scene. Police said she was wearing a seat belt when the crash occurred. No other injuries were reported in accounts of the incident.
Emergency crews responded to the downtown area shortly after the vehicle fell. Images from the scene showed the overturned SUV outside a convenience store, with damage visible on the parking structure above. Hotel Street was temporarily closed between Bishop and Bethel streets while police, firefighters and medical personnel worked at the scene and investigators examined the crash.
Initial emergency information described the driver as an 80-year-old woman. Police later reported that the driver was 84, and the medical examiner subsequently identified her as Sato, a resident of San Jose. The identification was released several days after the crash.
Police recorded the death as Oahu’s fourth non-traffic motor vehicle fatality of 2026. The department said there had been no fatalities in that category at the same point in 2025. The collision occurred within a private parking facility rather than on a public roadway.
The Honolulu Police Department’s Traffic Division Vehicular Homicide Section is handling the investigation. Its initial report said investigators had not determined whether speed, drugs or alcohol contributed to the collision. Police also had not publicly announced what caused Sato’s vehicle to strike and break through the retaining wall.
The department’s latest public information continued to list the investigation as ongoing. No additional injuries were reported, and authorities had not announced a final cause of the crash as of Tuesday.
Author note: Last updated October 13, 2026.