Neighbor Island briefs
Advertiser Staff and News Services
BIG ISLAND
Big Isle man under protective custody
PEPE'EKEO, Hawai'i — Big Island police have placed a 19-year-old man under protective custody after he was shot at twice in an apparent ambush Sunday near a country store in Pepe'ekeo, South Hilo.
Lt. Derek Pacheco declined to comment on whether the shooting, considered an attempted murder, is connected to the unsolved Jan. 31 murder of another 19-year-old Pepe'ekeo man.
In the earlier case, Kallen Agliam was found dead off the Hilo Coast Processing Road a short distance north from where Sunday's incident occurred. He had been shot in the chest.
Sunday's shots were fired at 3:17 p.m. near the Yoshizawa Store. The victim told police a gunman appeared near the intersection of Kulaimano Road and Hawai'i Belt Road, shot at him twice, then fled toward Hilo in a dark-colored, late-1980s model Honda sedan. The victim, who was not injured, described the assailant as a local male age 45 to 55.
Hilo teen dies in car accident
A Hilo teenager died Sunday of injuries he suffered in a one-car traffic accident Saturday in the 'Ainaloa subdivision of Puna.
The victim was identified as David Santiago, 15.
Responding to a 9:11 p.m. call Saturday, police said a 1994 Jeep Wrangler driven by Matthew Smith, 18, of Hilo, was traveling east on 'Ainaloa Boulevard between Lilikoi and Silver Oak drives when the driver lost control. The vehicle ran off the road and hit two palm trees and a utility pole. Santiago, a front-seat passenger, was ejected and sustained head injuries. He wasn't wearing seat belt.
Santiago and Smith were taken to the Hilo Medical Center, where Santiago died at 7:05 p.m. Sunday. Smith, who was wearing his seat belt, was treated and released.
Police are investigating the accident.
Police say woman killed in hit-run
HILO, Hawai'i — Police investigators have determined that a pedestrian killed April 16 in front of her home on Pahoa-Pohoiki Road was struck by a hit-and-run driver before being run over by a second vehicle.
An autopsy conducted on Felicia Hanohano, 48, of Pahoa, indicate she was standing when hit, said Sgt. Samuel V. Jelsma.
The driver of a truck that ran over her told police the woman, who was dressed in dark clothing, already was lying on the road when he hit her at 5:15 a.m. A witness corroborated the driver's statement and an inspection of the man's truck showed no sign of damage consistent with striking someone who was standing.
Police believe the vehicle that first struck Hanohano was a pickup truck or similar vehicle. It is probably damaged on the front end, Jelsma said.
Call officer William Torres at (808) 961-2332.
Fire destroys Kalapana home
KALAPANA, Hawai'i — A vacant residence on Kalapana Black Sand Beach burned to the ground late Sunday morning in a blaze officials described as suspicious.
Police yesterday were still trying to determine who owned the house on Diamond Head Drive off 'Iolani Street.
MAUI
Worker killed at treatment plant
MAHINAHINA, Maui — A 46-year-old O'ahu man was killed yesterday morning when a 30-foot pipe slipped from a steel cable and fell on his head, police said.
Jay Dotson of Mililani was part of a Rosco Moss Hawai'i Inc. crew trying to drill a test well at the Mahinahina Water Treatment Plant. Police said the pipe was being lifted to mount on the well when it fell at 10:20 a.m.
Dotson died at the scene.
Arson destroys sugar cane
PA'IA, Maui — Two maliciously set cane fires caused $89,000 in losses Sunday evening to Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co.
The first was reported at 6:22 p.m. off Holomua Road in Hamakuapoko, said Assistant Fire Chief Donald Moniz. Fourteen acres of year-old cane were burned, resulting in $63,000 in losses, said John Hoxie, HC&S vice president for farm operations. The second fire was reported at 7 p.m. in a nearby field off Baldwin Avenue, above Holy Rosary Church. Hoxie said it burned five acres of 19-month-old cane valued at $26,000.
