Police Beat
Advertiser Staff
Falling object injures Makiki driver
A Makiki man told police that a rock or some other object was dropped on his car from an overpass, smashing the windshield, as he was driving onto the H-1 Freeway at about 9:45 p.m. Sunday.
The driver, 28, was cut on his right hand as glass sprayed inside the car and over the empty passenger seat of this 2000 Nissan Maxima, but the object did not go through the windshield.
The man said the object struck his car on the Punahou Street on-ramp.
Charges filed in bank rampage
The man who stopped traffic downtown Friday during a fire-setting and spray-painting rampage was arraigned yesterday on charges of first-degree reckless endangering.
Richard Graham Elstner, 49, is being held in lieu of $20,000 bail. The charge is a Class C felony punishable by a maximum five years' imprisonment.
Elstner, a Makaloa Street resident, stopped his Mercedes-Benz about 4:30 p.m. in the intersection of Bishop and King streets and set it on fire, according to police. He then took extinguishers and paint from his trunk and sprayed the doorway and lobby of the Bank of Hawaii, police said.
The incident — and the aggressive response by police and fire crews, anxious because of security threats — snarled traffic for hours. The extinguisher residue was checked for anthrax, and his backpack, filled with personal belongings, was examined.
Elstner filed a lawsuit in state Circuit Court in August saying Bank of Hawaii and its subsidiary, Pacific Century Trust, mismanaged the trust accounts of his deceased mother and father.
Elstner, who said in the lawsuit that he is a beneficiary of the two trusts, said the bank and trust company made changes to his parents' trust accounts without consulting him.
But an attorney for the bank and trust company said the same allegations had been heard previously in probate court, which ruled in favor of the bank.
California woman beaten, robbed
A 65-year-old tourist was beaten and robbed Sunday night on Paoakalani Street in Waikiki.
A man grabbed her as she approached Lemon Street, police said.
Police said the California woman was walking mauka on Paoakalani at 10:54 p.m. when the robber grabbed her and punched her in the face several times, breaking her nose. He grabbed her handbag and ran toward the Honolulu Zoo. The woman was treated at The Queen's Medical Center.
Another 'Aiea fire caused by candle
For the second time in a week, an unattended candle caused a fire in 'Aiea, this time to an apartment at the Park at Pearl Ridge.
The call came in about 6:35 p.m. Sunday when a candle in the bathroom set fire to towels and clothes, said Capt. Richard Soo, Fire Department spokesman. The apartment fire was extinguished by a downstairs neighbor, he said.
A similar problem caused the Nov. 21 blaze in 'Aiea Heights that gutted part of a family's home.
Police seeking suspect in brawl
Police are seeking a man in an attempted murder and second-degree assault case that arose from brawl early Sunday outside a Dillingham Boulevard bar.
The victim, 24, got into an argument with the suspect at the Micronesian Lounge at about 3 a.m., police said. He walked outside to fight him, followed by his friends, one of whom grabbed the suspect.
Then the suspect's friends joined the fray, and the victim emerged from the fighting, trying to get away. Someone driving a red Jeep chased him, climbing the curb and sideswiping the victim as he fled, police said.
Waiawa facility escapee arrested
A man who escaped from the Waiawa Correctional Facility on Nov. 17 was arrested by police on Friday night in the Kane'ohe area.
Patrol officers in Windward Oahu arrested Joseph K. Lynch after they were sent to a suspicious person case at Keaahala Road. The officers recognized Lynch from CrimeStoppers release and arrested him.
Lynch has been convicted of seven residential burglaries and one auto theft since 1992, police said.
Man with knife robs video store
A Kukui Street video store was robbed Sunday morning by a knife-wielding man.
The man entered Alpha Video and approached the counter. He presented a note demanding money, showed a knife, took the money and fled.
