Police Beat

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Kailua crash kills teen, injures man

A teenage girl was killed and a man in his 20s was critically injured last night in a traffic accident in Kailua.

Police said the girl was a passenger in a Honda and the injured man was the driver.

The man was in critical condition last night at The Queen's Medical Center.

The accident occurred at about 9:40 p.m. on Kalaniana'ole Highway near the Women's Community Correctional Center.

A van hit the Honda, which was torn into two pieces, police said. The driver of the van was not injured.

The accident was in the Waimanalo-bound lane less than a mile south of the prison, police said.

Traffic was being diverted and investigators were on the scene late last night.

Cheena Andrews, 16, was last seen April 3.

KEA'AU, Hawai'i — Police are seeking the public's help in finding a 16-year-old Puna girl who was last seen April 3.

Cheena Andrews of Orchidland Estates is 5 feet 5, 150 pounds and has brown eyes and straight brown hair.

Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Peter Kualii at (808) 961-2373 or the police nonemergency number at (808) 935-3311.

Four may face charges in Wahiawa attack

Police are seeking second-degree robbery and assault charges against two men and two teenage boys who allegedly attacked a 64-year-old man in Wahiawa on Monday.

The assault occurred at 1:20 a.m. while the man was walking to work fronting 1061 Kilani Ave., police said.

The man passed by, but then the two older suspects allegedly returned and blocked his path. One then allegedly punched the victim several times, took his backpack and left him lying on the pavement.

All four suspects allegedly fled from the scene but were later arrested.

The victim suffered a fractured jaw, loosened teeth and scrapes in the assault, police said.

Teen girls foiled in attempt to escape

Three teenage girls held at the Hawai'i Youth Correctional Facility Monday stole a state-owned car and drove away in an escape attempt foiled by corrections officers blocking the road.

Police said the girls, two of them 16 and one 17, had been taken to the facility pool with four other female inmates when, at about 4:30 p.m., they allegedly grabbed the keys to the corrections staff car.

They drove down the facility's narrow access road but were blocked by a corrections van and, in trying to maneuver around it, crashed into a building, police said.

Big Isle police take 2,973 pot plants

Big Island police officers announced that last week's three-day marijuana sweep netted 2,973 marijuana plants ranging in height from seedlings to 5 feet.

Police worked with agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration and from the Hawai'i Army National Guard counter-drug program in the ongoing "Counter-Cannabis Field Operation."

The marijuana sweep, which ended last Wednesday, covered areas of North Hilo, South Hilo, Puna and South Kohala.

Authorities warn about e-mail scam

Police have issued a warning about an e-mail scam originating from Nigeria in which recipients are asked to supply a name and passport number in exchange for a share in a $30 million deposit.

Big Island residents have complained about the scam to police, who said that passport numbers can be used to collect personal information, including checking and savings account numbers. A similar request, reportedly arriving by mail and e-mail, has urged people to reveal bank account numbers and other personal information.

To report these scams, recipients are advised to call the U.S. Secret Service at 541-1912.