By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer
Honolulu police will seek a search warrant today to allow them to open a fanny pack that belonged to a man shot by a police officer early Sunday morning in Mililani.
The 34-year-old, who police said was in guarded condition at the Queen’s Medical Center yesterday, was shot and wounded after fleeing the officer at the Mililani Town Center. The officer was investigating a complaint about a man with a weapon who threatened to rob another man.
The victim pulled into the center on a motorcycle at about 3:30 a.m., and the officer ran a check on its license plate and determined the motorcycle had been reported stolen. The motorcyclist fled, and the officer chased him to a construction site at the end of Meheula Parkway in Mililani Mauka.
The officer said he found a motorcycle on its side at the scene and saw a man crouched behind a mound. He fired a shot, he said, when he saw the man reaching for something in a bag.
The victim was taken to Queen’s in critical condition. A hospital official yesterday would not confirm whether he was a patient, but police Internal Affairs Lt. Gregory Poole said he had been upgraded to guarded condition and would remain at Queen’s for several days.
The officer, 29, is on administrative leave pending the outcome of an Internal Affairs’ investigation. Poole said that investigation should be completed by the middle of next week.
Poole said police would ask a judge for a search warrant today to look inside the fanny pack, the only evidence recovered at the scene other than a motorcycle helmet.
"We just want to see what was in it. The officer said that (the victim) was going for the bag, so we want to see if there was something in there," Poole said.
He said he has not yet interviewed the victim or the officer, and no arrests have been made. The only charge is for possession of a stolen motorcycle.
Police would not release the names of either victim or officer. They did say the victim had been convicted previously of theft.
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