Police Beat
Advertiser Staff
Coach charged in sex assault of boy
A longtime coach of a Kailua Little League team yesterday was indicted on nine felony counts accusing him of sexual assault of a 12-year-old boy.
Mark Heyd, 46, an architect and former coach of the Kainalu Major League team, was charged by a grand jury with two counts of first-degree sexual assault, three counts of third-degree sexual assault, one count of kidnapping, one count of continuous sexual assault of a minor under 14 years old, and two counts of attempted sexual assault.
Bob Kawamoto, the league's district administrator for Windward O'ahu and Kaua'i, said Heyd was not due to coach the team this season.
The victim told police the assaults occurred over a nearly eight-month period, from July 10 last year until March 1.
Boy hospitalized in 'Aiea crash
A 16-year-old boy was in guarded condition at The Queen's Medical Center yesterday after his car veered off the roadway and smashed into a KFC restaurant in 'Aiea early yesterday morning.
The boy, a Waipahu resident, was driving without a license at 2:22 a.m., heading west on Kamehameha Highway. The car he was driving, a white 2000 Plymouth, ran off the road 216 feet west of Honomanu Street and crashed into the KFC building before coming to rest in the highway's center lane.
He was taken in critical condition with head, chest and leg injuries to Queen's, where his condition improved, police said.
The boy had to be extricated from the car. Police suspect speed and alcohol were factors in the accident.
Arson suspected in Kalihi Valley
A fire that scorched about 2 acres of brush yesterday in Kalihi Valley was deliberately set, a fire official said.
The fire was reported at 3:50 p.m. above the Kalihi Valley Homes housing project. When firefighters got to the scene, they found four boys, ages 12 to 14, fighting the fire with extinguishers and a T-shirt, said fire spokesman Capt. Richard Soo.
Soo said the boys were in the area where the fire started, which was about 100 yards from the nearest home. He said firefighters made sure the boys were safe before turning their attention to the fire.
Seven Honolulu fire engine companies were joined by three federal companies in battling the blaze. Soo said the city's Air One helicopter dropped buckets of water to contain the fire.
Soo said strong breezes were blowing uphill yesterday and kept the fire away from homes. The fire was extinguished at 7:09 p.m.
No one saw the fire being started, Soo said, but investigators said the fire was intentionally set.
