Police Beat
Advertiser Staff
14 locks flawed at HPD cellblock
Door locks for 14 of the 53 adult cells at the Honolulu Police Department's main station were found to be defective, according to an inspection conducted after Monday's escape by a cellblock inmate.
Jessie K. Dutro, a suspected auto thief who fled from the Alapai station's central receiving area, remained at large last night.
Dutro, 19, got free from the basement cellblock by picking a defective cell door lock and using unattended keys to get past two more security doors, police said. Dutro may have used a plastic prisoner ID wristband to pick the cell lock, police said.
The department is conducting an internal investigation to determine why officers assigned to the cellblock area left the security keys unattended.
Two charged with hotel burglary
Police on Tuesday charged two people with first-degree burglary in connection with a break-in Monday at the Pagoda Hotel at 1525 Rycroft St.
Lance Kahuanui, 48, of Kane'ohe, and Stacey Lee Elbert, 35, a Pawa'a-area resident, are accused of burglarizing a hotel room at 3:50 a.m. A couple allegedly saw Kahuanui and Elbert exiting their hotel room and notified hotel security staff, who detained the suspects for police.
Kahuanui is being held in lieu of $15,000 bail. Elbert is charged with two drug offenses in addition to burglary and her bail is $45,000.
Woman may have been abducted
Maui police yesterday were looking for three men who may have kidnapped a Makawao woman and then eluded capture in an intensive air and ground search.
Maui police Sgt. Jamie Becraft said a witness described a 12:25 p.m. incident in which a man with a gun forced a 25-year-old woman from her Makawao home into a gray Toyota car containing two other men.
Police found the car abandoned nearby, Becraft said, and 15 officers searched the area on foot while a police helicopter looked from the sky. The search was called off at 2:15 p.m.
Becraft said the gunman, who is believed to be known by the woman, is described as being in his early 30s, wearing a long-sleeve black shirt with "Big Daddy'' in blue lettering. There was no description for the other males.
The victim is described as being 5 feet 5, 90 pounds and wearing denim pants and shirt.
Man allegedly hit with tire iron
A 35-year-old man was arrested Tuesday night for allegedly striking another man with a tire iron during an argument near Crane Community Park in Kaimuki.
The victim, 23, suffered minor injuries to his forearm. The suspect was arrested at the park at 10:35 p.m., about 12 hours after the alleged attack occurred.
Two still critical after car crash
A 19-year-old man and 30-year-old woman injured in a single-car crash Saturday on Roosevelt Avenue in Kalaeloa, were still listed in critical condition last night at The Queen's Medical Center.
Two women passengers in the 2001 silver Toyota Corolla were killed when the car slammed into a utility pole. The medical examiner's office has been unable to identify the dead women because of conflicting names provided by relatives and acquaintances.
