Police Beat
Advertiser Staff
Woman's death not traffic fatality
Honolulu police yesterday changed its traffic fatality count for 2003 from 50 to 49 because a 71-year-old Kane'ohe woman died from a heart attack rather than injuries related to a June 26 car crash on Likelike Highway near the Burmeister overpass, said vehicular homicide Lt. Bennett Martin.
Speed and/or alcohol have been a contributing factor in more than half of the 40 crashes involved in the 49 deaths, Martin noted.
Transformer goes down in crash
State Hazard Evaluation & Emergency Response workers were at Monsarrat and Trousseau streets today to monitor the spillage of polychlorinated biphenyl from an old transformer that was knocked down from a utility pole damaged in a car crash last night.
Hawaiian Electric Co. assisted the Fire Department's HazMat unit in cleaning up the roadway, but the old transformer was owned by the military. The roadway was closed from 11:22 last night to 1:39 a.m. today.
Fallen tree forces closure of street
A section of North School Street between Nu'uanu Avenue and 'A'ala Street was closed to traffic for more than five hours today due to a downed African tulip tree on the roadway. The tree fell at about 4:15 a.m.
The city's Urban Forestry Division removed the tree and officials said it fell due to rot. The roadway was reopened at 9:38 a.m.
Arrests first test of replica gun law
Three of four men arrested early yesterday in Manoa Valley are the first people to be charged with violating a new city law that prohibits carrying unconcealed replica handguns in public.
Jamieson Pond, 20, and two 19-year-olds, Andrew Park and Kory Takekawa, were arrested at 12:20 a.m. by police investigating suspicious activity on University of Hawai'i property at 2840 Kolowalu St. near Noelani Elementary School. Capt. Marie McCauley of HPD's East Honolulu patrol district said a responding officer confronted one man holding what appeared to be a silver-colored handgun.
Police seized a second gun from the waistband of another suspect and found a third gun on a railing near a third suspect.
All were air guns that shoot plastic BBs or pellets but are reproductions of real firearms. The aim of the new law signed by Mayor Jeremy Harris last month is to protect officers and the public from situations where someone can get shot.
The law prohibits people from possessing unconcealed replica guns in public or having them out in the presence of a law-enforcement officer. "It's not something you should be carrying on the street," McCauley said. "It's not a plaything."
The replica gun violation is a petty misdemeanor. If convicted, the men could be fined up to $500 and/or get 30 days in jail. If the weapon is drawn or brandished in front of a law enforcement officer, the maximum penalty is a $1,000 fine and/or one year in jail.
In addition to the replica gun offense, the three men were charged with first-degree criminal trespassing. Blake Isobe, 19, also was charged with criminal trespassing.
