Police Beat
Advertiser Staff
Suicide standoff ends in arrest
A 24-year-old man who held police officers at bay by threatening to kill himself with a knife surrendered early yesterday after a 40-minute standoff at a Pearl City home, police said.
The standoff started on Paaaina Street when the man allegedly broke into his father's home at 11:50 p.m. Sunday, violating a temporary restraining order, police said.
The son broke into the home through a second-floor window and eventually retreated into his room, police said.
When patrol officers responded, the son was found in the room and threatened to kill himself with a knife, police said.
Police requested the help of a negotiator, but canceled the call at about 12:30 a.m. when patrol officers talked the son into surrendering.
Police arrested the man on suspicion of first-degree burglary and violating a temporary restraining order. Police said no one was hurt in the standoff.
Woman charged in Chinatown stabbing
A 27-year-old Waipahu woman was charged Saturday in connection with a stabbing that sent a 36-year-old man to the hospital Thursday night in Chinatown.
Ruta Tupua was charged with second-degree attempted murder and was being held on $75,000 bail.
Police said the man has since been upgraded from critical to guarded condition at The Queen's Medical Center. Hospital staff would not release updates.
Witnesses saw the woman and the man arguing at about 8:20 p.m. near the intersection of North Pauahi and River streets, said homicide Lt. Bill Kato. The witnesses thought the woman punched or hit the man in the neck, and didn't see the sharp object, Kato said, but when the man grabbed for his neck witnesses saw the puncture wound.
Drug, gun charges filed in Waipahu
A 33-year-old man who police said was found unconscious inside a car holding a shotgun with a drug pipe near him was arrested Saturday in Waipahu and charged Sunday.
Police charged John Robins with several gun and drug offenses. His bail was set at $75,000.
Police said an off-duty police officer walking back to his car at about 8:45 a.m. Saturday noticed the unconscious man, the glass pipe on the front passenger seat and the sawed-off shotgun the man was holding.
OxyContin robber hits Maui store
KAHULUI, Maui — Maui police are seeking the identity of a man who robbed the Kahului Safeway pharmacy of an undetermined amount of the prescription painkiller OxyContin.
The robbery occurred at 7:50 p.m. Thursday when a man entered the store and brandished a handgun at the pharmacy counter near the entrance, said police Lt. Glenn Cuomo.
OxyContin is a powerful painkiller that has become popular among drug abusers because of its relatively low cost compared with heroin and other street drugs. Although the drug is most commonly used for cancer patients and others suffering from pain, abusers inject, snort or chew the crushed tablets to get a fast heroin-type high.
Nearly 20 OxyContin-related fatal overdoses were reported last year in Honolulu, and at least one on Maui, Cuomo said.
The Safeway robber was described as being in his 30s, 5 feet, 9 inches tall, weighing 150 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes. Witnesses said he was wearing a green sweatshirt and had a lightly pockmarked complexion.
Anyone with information on the case should call Maui detectives at (808) 244-6425, the police non-emergency number at (808) 244-6400, or Maui Crime Stoppers at (808) 242-6966.
