Brian Gatdula answered the call, as he always does.
It was Sunday and there were open shifts to fill, not at all uncommon for the city’s TheHandi-Van service, for which the need is constant and the pool of qualified drivers ever tenuous. Gatdula, 35, took the evening shift, spent another eight hours getting his disabled clients where they needed to be, then lingered at the office for a bit to talk story with the other drivers, eventually heading home around 10:30 p.m.
As he approached the Waimano Exit heading west on the H-1, a car in front of him attempted to merge and struck another vehicle, sending the first car into a guardrail and then into the median. The impact jarred open the trunk, scattering its contents onto the roadway…