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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, October 19, 2002

Stolen car involved in airport hit-run

By Scott Ishikawa
Advertiser Staff Writers

The car that sideswiped two sheriff deputies at an airport security checkpoint Thursday night was a rental car that had been reported stolen two weeks earlier, police said yesterday.

Police were conducting a criminal investigation and classified the case as an attempted murder. The car and its driver remained at large yesterday.

The state deputies, ages 30 and 40, were treated and released at The Queen's Medical Center for minor injuries.

The deputies stopped the car about 6:15 p.m. Thursday at the Lagoon Drive checkpoint near Kalewa Street because the vehicle had flashing blue lights on its front windshield area, investigators said.

While a license number check was being done on the vehicle — it would eventually show the car to be a Thrifty Car Rental vehicle reported stolen Oct. 3 from the Wai'anae area — the deputies asked the male driver to step out of the car.

Instead, he accelerated, knocking over both deputies, said Herman Moore, acting deputy director of the state Department of Public Safety.

The 30-year-old deputy, struck in the knee by the vehicle, fired three shots from his Smith & Wesson 9mm semiautomatic at the vehicle as it made a U-turn and left the airport area past the checkpoint, Moore said.

Moore said a state investigation will determine whether the firing was justified, but said "the car struck one of the officers, and he fired his weapon because he felt his life was in danger."

Police believe the driver is a Caucasian male in his mid-20s, with a medium build, fair complexion and clean shaven. He wore a khaki baseball cap and T-shirt. He showed the deputies a stolen ID card.

Police said the car is a light green, four-door 2000 Daewoo sedan with a Hawai'i license plate JJU136, possibly with bullet holes in the windshield.

Moore said deputies have previously arrested drivers at the checkpoint for offenses such as driving a stolen vehicle or drug possession.

"Some of the drivers arrested for those things may have been just going to the beach, not aware there was a checkpoint down there," Moore said. "We've made arrests before, but it has never escalated to what happened Thursday night."

Anyone with information about this case may contact Detective Alex Garcia directly at 529-3843 or anonymously to CrimeStoppers at 955-8300.