Police Beat
Advertiser Staff
Truck-fall victim dies of his injuries
Wailuku resident Mark Wills, who fell out of the back of a moving white Ford Ranger pickup truck on Friday, died yesterday at 12:30 p.m. at Maui Memorial Medical Center.
He died of severe head injuries, said police. Wills, 32, was part of a construction crew working at Lahainaluna High School. The accident occurred while Wills rode in the truck's bed down a campus road with three other crew members.
Police said the tailgate of the crew's truck popped open and Wills fell out, hitting his head on the pavement.
June 8 accident proves fatal
A 16-year-old Kaua'i girl, died Thursday at The Queen's Medical Center from injuries received in a June 8 traffic accident.
Police said Joanne Apilado and a teenage boy were thrown from the back of a pickup truck.
The truck, driven by a boy without a license, was heading west on Kaumuali'i Highway when it pulled over between mile markers 31 and 32 and made a sharp U-turn. Apilado and the boy, also 16, were thrown from the truck and landed in the roadway.
The injured boy's condition was not released yesterday.
Kaua'i death may be homicide
Police have opened a homicide investigation into the death of a 60-year-old Kaua'i man.
Walter Robert "Fig" Mitchell was found dead in bed at his Lihu'e home on Monday. An autopsy was conducted Thursday, but police have not released any further information on Mitchell's death.
Mitchell was a former sports editor of the defunct Kaua'i Times and a radio sports announcer at several Kaua'i radio stations.
Mediation fails in police dispute
Mediation has failed in a lawsuit filed by a former Big Island police officer against two former superiors, according to court documents.
Tanny Cazimero filed the lawsuit in October 2000, a month after he was fired from the Hawai'i County Police Department. Named as defendants are the county, then-chief Wayne Carvalho and Capt. Hyland Char.
The lawsuit says the Police Department retaliated against Cazimero for being a "whistleblower." But the county described Cazimero in court documents as a "disgruntled employee whose work performance fell below departmental standards."
Attorneys are preparing to take depositions of witnesses who will testify if the case goes to trial.
Deputy corporation counsel Joseph Kamelamela said the county will ask that the lawsuit be dismissed on grounds that Cazimero did not exhaust administrative remedies before filing his lawsuit.
Plea agreement in corruption case
Federal prosecutors have reached a plea agreement with one of eight current and former Honolulu Liquor Commission investigators indicted for conspiracy, racketeering and extortion.
Kenneth Wright agreed Friday to plead guilty to accepting bribes from bars in return for ignoring drinking or sexual behavior violations.
Wright is scheduled to enter his guilty plea in July.
The seven other defendants have pleaded innocent and are scheduled to stand trial July 23.
The indictments followed a yearlong undercover investigation by the FBI and the Honolulu Police Department.
The defendants targeted 45 liquor establishments on O'ahu, most of them hostess bars, said U.S. attorney Ed Kubo. The payments ranged from $40 to more than $1,000 per visit, according to the indictment.
