Posted on: Friday, June 21, 2002
Police Beat
Idling pickup kills Puna woman
A 39-year-old Puna woman was killed Wednesday when she was run over by her pickup truck as she was securing a gate to a private driveway.
The victim was identified as Julie Marie Ellison of Hawaiian Beaches.
The accident occurred off Pohoiki Road, about a half-mile south of Leilani Estates.
Police were called at 3:26 p.m. and told that Ellison had been driving a 1996 Ford pickup truck pulling a trailer and exiting a private driveway onto Pohoiki Road when she stopped outside the gate and got out to secure it behind her truck.
She apparently had left the vehicle running with the transmission in park, police said, but failed to set the brake. As she began to close the gate, the truck and trailer rolled backward over her.
A neighbor heard a crash and ran over to find the vehicle, still running in the parking gear, on top of the victim.
Ellison was taken to Hilo Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at 6:37 p.m.
Hawaiian jewelry taken from Kmart
Detectives are investigating a robbery yesterday at the Iwilei Kmart store, in which a man allegedly smashed a jewelry case and fled with an undetermined amount of merchandise.
The robbery occurred at 5:10 a.m., when the suspect — wearing black clothes, mask and gloves — allegedly used a crowbar to break into a case of Hawaiian jewelry. He was chased out the store, but escaped when he allegedly pointed a gun at his pursuer, who gave up the chase.
Captain Cook fire damages home
Big Island fire officials estimated losses at $75,000 to a home in Captain Cook that burned at 10 p.m. Wednesday.
The blaze at the four-bedroom home on St. Johns Road in Ka'awaloa was extinguished at 10:33 p.m., officials said.
The residence was converted from its former use as a coffee drying platform.
Police seek clues in theft of koa
HO'OKENA, Hawai'i — Police are seeking clues to the theft of $2,000 worth of cut koa wood that was stolen from Kaimalino Ranch in South Kona.
The crime occurred between June 13 and 17 when various lengths of koa were dragged several hundred feet from a storage yard to a vehicle parked along the Hawai'i Belt Road, police said.
Anyone with information should call police officer Don Takahashi of the Kona Patrol Division at (808) 326-4646, the police nonemergency number at (808) 935-3311, or Crime Stoppers at (808) 329-8181 in Kona or (808) 961-8300 in Hilo.
