A woman says she saw a Honolulu police cruiser chasing a motorcycle on Kamehameha Highway in Waipahu on New Year's Day at such a high rate of speed and following so closely that she feared for the safety of the motorcyclist.

Charlotte Pagaduan, of Waipahu, said she was north-bound on Kamehameha Highway near Lumi'aina Street around 10:55 p.m. when she saw a south-bound HPD cruiser closely pursuing a man on a motorcycle at speeds she estimated at 70 mph.

She said the police cruiser appeared to be only about 3 feet behind the motorcycle.

"I kind of slowed down to see what was going on," Pagaduan said yesterday. "As I was coming up, he (the officer) was really close to the biker. That's why I thought the biker was going to get hurt. And sure enough, I found out (later) that ... the biker died."

Wayne Medeiros Jr., 36, was killed Thursday night a short distance away, near the Waipahu-Paiwa Street intersection, when his motorcycle veered off the right side of the road and he crashed into a large rock and a guardrail.

Police have said the officer had stopped Medeiros going south on Kamehameha Highway. Then, as the officer was walking toward the bike, Medeiros suddenly sped away.

Police have said the officer did not give chase, but that he proceeded along Waipahu Street and was searching for the biker when he came upon the crash scene shortly before 11 p.m.

Honolulu Police Department Maj. Frank Fujii said yesterday that police are trying to determine exactly what happened.

"We are looking into the incident," Fujii said. "And if anybody has any information about anything leading up to the incident, we're asking them to call us."

Pagaduan's story might seem to contradict the initial police account of what happened, "unless the pursuit happened prior to the stop," Fujii added. "The officer said he stopped the cyclist at some point, and as he approached the driver, the driver took off again."

Pagaduan said the cruiser's siren and lights were operating during what she saw of the incident. She said she did not see or hear the crash. Because the cruiser was so close to the motorcycle, she wasn't sure "if he (the officer) was going to pass the biker, or if he was trying to overtake him."

She said it was the speed and the proximity of the cruiser to the bike that made her fear the cyclist would be injured. She said she decided to go public with what she witnessed because she thinks she may have been the only one to see the chase along Kamehameha Highway moments before the crash.

"My concern is that if the officer is saying he wasn't chasing him, then what was it?"

HPD's pursuit policy specifies "the blue light and siren shall be used to command a vehicle to stop before a pursuit is initiated." The pursuit may be initiated with "an authorized emergency vehicle if an officer directs a driver to stop but that driver exhibits intentions of eluding the officer by being evasive."

Officers are required to announce to the dispatcher that they are beginning a pursuit, according to the policy. Officers also must obey the rules of the road and cannot pull alongside or overtake the suspect, and they "should remain a safe distance behind the pursued vehicle and keep it in sight until the driver stops voluntarily," the policy stipulates.

Medeiros, of Honolulu, was one of three New Year's Day traffic fatalities on O'ahu. Police said he was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash. He was ejected from the black 2003 Honda sports bike he was riding and was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead, authorities said.