Police Beat
Advertiser Staff
Man killed in airport accident
An elderly man was run over by a forklift and killed yesterday afternoon at Honolulu International Airport.
The man, tentatively identified as an 88-year-old airport worker, was struck by the forklift on an airport service road near the Continental Airlines cargo area shortly after 4 p.m. The forklift was carrying a large cargo container at the time of the accident, said a city Emergency Medical Services spokesman.
The man was taken to Kaiser-Moanalua Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The man's name was not released last night, but the EMS spokesman said the victim was wearing an airport ramp badge.
Pepper-sauce fumes hit diners
Several diners at Matteo's Italian Restaurant in Waikiki complained of nausea and irritated eyes last night after a potent chili pepper sauce was spilled into a hot frying pan.
Firefighters were called to the restaurant at 364 Seaside Ave. at about 8:40 p.m. after many of the restaurant's 30 customers became ill. HFD Capt. Richard Soo said the patrons reported vomiting, teary eyes and itchy throats.
Soo said the complaints sounded like "typical pepper spray" reactions. By the time fire crews arrived, the problem had dissipated and most of the customers had recovered, Soo said.
The problems resulted when someone in the restaurant's kitchen spilled "a very potent" chili sauce called Revenge into a frying pan, Soo said. The heat atomized the sauce and pepper-spray-like fumes were sent through the restaurant.
The manager said customers at two tables left the restaurant because of the problem. But Soo said no one required medical treatment.
Woman attacked at bus stop
Police arrested a homeless man suspected of slashing a woman with a hatchet at a downtown bus stop yesterday.
Police say the man, believed to be in his 50s, began punching the woman for no reason at the bus stop near Hotel and Richards streets shortly after 2 p.m.
The man then swung a hatchet at her, grazing her head. Officers and passersby chased and caught the man in front of the King Kamehameha statue on South King Street.
Police said they recovered the hatchet at the scene.
City deputy prosecutor Barry Kemp said he saw the man attack the victim right outside his office.
"I heard a woman yelling 'Help,' and ran outside and this guy was just swinging his fists away at the woman, then with the hatchet" Kemp said. "I thought she was bleeding pretty bad, but she asked me to help chase him down to the Kamehameha statue."
The victim, possibly in her 40s, was taken to an area hospital.
Man arrested in Vineyard death
A 34-year-old man awaiting trial for armed robbery and attempted murder at O'ahu Community Correctional Center has been arrested on suspicion of being the gunman in a fatal drive-by shooting March 6 at North Vineyard Boulevard and 'A'ala Street.
Earl Hirakawa, 40, was shot to death while driving his car.
Markes Rapozo, who was arrested Monday, has been charged for two violent offenses in Kapahulu this year: the Jan. 18 robbery of Bailey's Antiques and the March 16 shooting of the owner of GH Pawn and Gold Exchange.
Couple guilty in sex assault on girl
A Kapolei man and his wife who were accused of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl pleaded guilty in Circuit Court yesterday.
Victor Flores, 38, pleaded guilty to a single count of first-degree sexual assault while his wife, Celeste, also 38, pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree sex assault and being an accomplice to second-degree sexual assault.
They were indicted in February 2001 and accused of sexually assaulting the girl over a six-month period ending in January 2001.
Circuit Judge Karl Sakamoto set sentencing for Feb. 23.
Big Isle man jailed in mom's beating
NA'ALEHU, Hawai'i — A Big Island man sought for kidnapping and beating his mother with a rifle butt Sunday night was captured yesterday by Big Island police.
Derek S.K. Fontes, 21, was charged with 10 crimes and transferred to Kona's police cellblock to await arraignment in District Court. He was being held without bail, Capt. Larry Weber said.
Weber said officers found Fontes at an undisclosed location north of Pahala while he was sleeping at 11:20 a.m. He offered no resistance.
Weber said Fontes had been the subject of a temporary restraining order from the court obtained by his mother before Sunday's attack.
Up-skirt video trial set for November
A 49-year-old man accused of taking video shots under women's skirts as they were riding escalators at Ala Moana Center will be tried Nov. 4 on charges of violation of privacy, a misdemeanor.
Tyler Takehara could be sentenced to up to one year in jail for each of the 30 counts against him.
He recently resigned as Iolani School's intermediate boys basketball coach, said Charles Proctor, Iolani's assistant headmaster and dean of the upper school.
Takehara was a contract coach and not a member of the faculty, Proctor said.
