MA'ILI — Yesterday's fourth traffic fatality happened at around 1:13 p.m. at the intersection of Farrington and Lopikane Street when a man "lost control of his bike and fell in the path of a school bus," said Maj. Frank Fujii of the Honolulu Police Department.

The man, identified by family and witnesses as Wesley Garcia of Wai'anae, was taken to the Wai'anae Coast Comprehensive Health Center, where he was pronounced dead.

One man saw the incident unfold a few feet from where he had parked his 2006 White Chevrolet Suburban SUV on the ocean side of Farrington to make a cell-phone call.

RC Anderson, archbishop of the Ecumenical Catholic Church of America, said the motorcyclist, who was not wearing a helmet, had come to a rolling stop at the intersection of Farrington and Lopikane on an orange KTM 520 dirt bike.

The biker was in the process of making a left turn onto Farrington, when he gunned the gas to get past a west-bound school bus that was about 50 feet away in the outside lane, Anderson said.

"But then he lost control of it," Anderson said, "The back of his bike went out from under him and fish-hooked him right back into the lane the bus was in."

The bike went down on its side and slid under the left front wheel of the bus, which ran over both the cycle and the biker, he said. The man tumbled several times beneath the vehicle before the back wheels ran over him, and flipped the man to near the center of the intersection.

Anderson, a former paramedic who still carries his medic bag, said he dialed 911 and then dashed over to try and help the biker, who he said had suffered severe head injuries.

According to Anderson, the man was still conscious and even managed to say his name — "Wes."

Anderson said he was joined by two Ma'ili Beach Park lifeguards.

"One of the lifeguards was trying to open his airway and keep him breathing while I held his head," Anderson said. "The only thing we heard out of him after that ... he looked up and me and said what sounded like, 'Help me.' And then he immediately stopped breathing."

By that time police and paramedics had arrived, he said, and police asked him to leave the victim while EMS personnel prepared to take him to the medical center.

"I did not have time to give him last rites," Anderson said. "I was just getting ready to when HPD pulled me off to the side to get my statement. I asked the officer if I could go back and give him last rites, but by that time the ambulance was already pulling out."

Although Anderson said that bothered him a great deal, he said he prayed for the man he knew only as Wes during the time he was with him in the intersection.

Garcia worked at Rapoza's Auto Body Shop at the corner of Farrington and Lopikane, less than 50 yards from where the accident occurred while Garcia was on his lunch break. John Rapoza, owner of the shop, said Garcia had worked for him for eight years as a painter.

Garcia was believed to be 44 years old.

The dirt bike he was riding belonged to Rapoza, who was in Honolulu at the time of the accident.

Garcia's co-workers described him as an easy-going, laid-back person.

"I knew him pretty well," said Austin Rapoza, 16, who said Garcia had an apartment near Poka'i Bay. "He was cool. He just chilled."

Joseph Tavita, 32, brother-in-law of John Rapoza, was in the body shop when the crash happened. He said he and his others in the shop heard the crash and ran out to the road to see what had happened.

"When we came out, you could see the bus had run over him," said Tavita, who said Garcia was used to riding small dirt bikes, but it was his first time on the more powerful KTM 520.

"His head was smashed, and his legs were all messed up."

Police shut down both westbound lanes and one east-bound lane on Farrington Highway in Ma'ili between Lopikane Street and Hakimo Road following the accident.

The driver of the bus was a 24-year-old woman, also from the Wai'anae area, Fujii said. He said the bus was empty and no one else was injured.

Fujii said neither speed nor alcohol were involved.