Police Beat
Advertiser Staff
Fleeing auto rams police car
A police car was rammed by a vehicle allegedly involved in a robbery in 'Ewa Beach early yesterday. No one was injured, police said.
A 24-year-old Wahiawa man and a 19-year-old woman were arrested and face charges of robbery, auto theft and criminal property damage. Police said the incident began about 1 a.m. when a car approached two men who were sitting in a garage.
The men were robbed of cigarettes and car keys.
Police stopped the suspects' vehicle, but the driver rammed a police car and fled. The car was stopped in Waipahu, but two of the occupants got away.
Halawa jail searched for contraband
Halawa Correctional Facility was locked down for a second consecutive day yesterday as law-enforcement officers continued their search for contraband. Warden Clayton Frank said the operation focused on three medium-security modules and may be extended to today.
On Tuesday, officials searched one module as well as program-work and recreation areas, which included the gym, education center, chapel, library and industrial-arts building. One inmate was arrested on suspicion of possessing a drug-smoking pipe, Frank said.
"We didn't find anything significant, which doesn't surprise me," Frank said. "If there were illegal substances, they were flushed down the toilet." Frank said no physical defects were found in any of the cells.
Man dies after being hit by truck
A 77-year-old Waipahu man died yesterday at Tripler Army Medical Center about 40 minutes after being hit by a pickup truck while crossing Pu'uloa Road near Pukuloa Street in Mapunapuna.
The man was not in a crosswalk when he was hit by a 1987 Toyota pickup truck at about 5:25 a.m., police said. The driver of the truck, a 39-year-old man from 'Ewa Beach, was not injured.
The critically injured pedestrian was transported to Tripler, where he was pronounced dead at 6:03 a.m. The medical examiner's office plans to confirm the man's identity from fingerprints before releasing his name.
Prosecution up in gun crimes
Project Safe Neighborhoods, a statewide effort to aggressively prosecute individuals who should not possess firearms or ammunition, has increased federal prosecution of gun crimes in Hawai'i by more than 400 percent.
Since its launch in February 2002, nearly 150 defendants have been convicted, are facing federal charges or are under investigation for gun crimes, said U.S. Attorney Edward Kubo Jr.
In the past, many gun crime offenders entered "a criminal justice system with a revolving door," he said this week. "The evidence shows that gun crimes must be treated seriously ... to meet the growing threat to our citizens."
Man charged in theft of lychee
HILO, Hawai'i — A 23-year-old Puna man has been charged with two counts of second-degree robbery for allegedly stealing lychee from a farm in Pepe'ekeo.
Michael Conrad Fuerte was charged yesterday and was being held in the Hilo police cellblock with bail set at $150,000.
Fuerte was arrested Tuesday in connection with a theft that occurred shortly before noon Sunday.
The owners of the farm allegedly saw the suspect stealing the fruit and were injured slightly when they tried to stop him, said detective Richard Sherlock.
