Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The driver of a vehicle involved in an accident in Nu’uuli last month was arrested and he’s now behind bars.

Alesana Ulusese appeared in Court last month and the government is filing two separate cases against him.

In the first case, he is charged with one count of unlawful possession of marijuana and one count of unlawful possession of methamphetamine (meth), both unclassified felonies, along with several traffic citations.

Bail for Ulusese is set at $10,000 and he’s scheduled to appear in court next week for his preliminary hearing.

For the second case, Ulusese is charged with 2nd- degree assault, a class D felony and bail is set at $7,000.

THE CASE

On the early morning of Oct. 25, 2022 on the Nu’uuli public highway, a red pickup truck overtook another vehicle heading westbound.

The pickup ran off the left side of the road and almost struck a man walking there. The pickup continued swerving off the road it crashed into a tree in front of a residence.

Two people were inside and both exited the vehicle and fled the scene before police arrived. Two eyewitnesses gave police a description of the two males, who fled the scene.

According to one of the witnesses, the driver was a tall man wearing a red t-shirt with black jeans, while the passenger was a skinny young man.

The red pickup truck involved in the accident was found to be registered to an individual by the name of Kalala Ulusese of Ottoville, who was later identified as the wife of Alesana Ulusese, the defendant in this matter.

Investigators contacted Mrs. Ulusese and asked her to come to the Tafuna Police Substation (TPS) to discuss the matter with police.

An hour later, Mrs. Ulusese arrived at the TPS and told investigators she has no idea of what happened until she saw the photo of their vehicle crashed on the side of the road in Nu’uuli on social media. She told investigators that somebody had taken a photo of the accident and posted it on social media.

Mrs. Ulusese further told investigators that she believes her husband was the driver and she had been trying to call his number but his phone was turned off.

According to Mrs. Ulusese, her husband and his nephew, who is a mechanic, told her they were going to a friend’s house in Vaitogi early in the morning to pick up parts for the vehicle.

Around 6a.m, her daughter told her that somebody had taken a photo of their vehicle, which was crashed on the side of the road in Nu’uuli. That’s when she started calling her husband’s phone but he never answered.

Meanwhile, officers who were at the scene contacted detectives of the Vice and Narcotic Unit (VNU) regarding paraphernalia they discovered inside the crashed vehicle.

According to the government, a black bag was found under the driver’s seat. Inside was a wallet containing a photo ID of the defendant, Alesene Ulusese. Also inside the bag was a black pouch containing 4 empty cut-up straws, commonly used to scoop meth, one stamp -sized baggie containing a white crystalline substance, and one small stamp -sized baggie containing a green leafy substance.

Further information surfaced that Ulusese had an outstanding warrant from 2020 for his involvement in an assault case where a man was severely beaten by three men. One of them was allegedly Ulusese.

Four hours after the incident, Ulusese walked into the TPS where he was Mirandized and agreed to make a statement.

According to Ulusese, he fell asleep behind the wheel and that’s what caused his vehicle to crash to the side of the road. After the crash, he told his nephew to get out and run for his life because he was scared that someone would beat them up.

He told investigators that he did not know where his nephew went but he went straight to his uncle’s house in Malaeimi where he explained to him what happened and his uncle advised him to go to the police to turn himself in.

When asked about the paraphernalia found inside the vehicle, Ulusese apologized to investigators and admitted that the drugs belonged to him.

THE ALLEGED ASSAULT CASE

On Jan. 23, 2020, a man was transported to the LBJ Medical Hospital by his family after he suffered severe head injuries.

Eyewitnesses told investigators that the victim was beaten up by three men after a volleyball game. The three men allegedly were Isitolo Masi, Vainalepa Tumua and Alesana Ulusese.

Two months later in March of 2020, Masi and Tumua were arrested and later charged with 2nd -degree assault.

The report doesn’t note why Ulusese was never arrested.