Police arrested a 32-year-old Wai'anae man in connection with the hit-and-run death last night of a 17-year-old boy who was killed while riding his bicycle on a sidewalk along Farrington Highway.

Police vehicular homicide investigators said the boy, who has not been identified, was riding his bicycle toward Nanakuli on the mauka side of the highway about 5 p.m. when a pickup truck, which was headed toward Wai'anae, swerved to the right, jumped the curb and struck the bicyclist.

Investigators said the truck driver got out and looked at the injured boy momentarily before running across the highway, where he took a bicycle from an onlooker and pedaled away from the scene. The truck driver later abandoned the bike and was last seen running away from the area.

The boy was declared dead at the scene with head and chest injuries.

The truck driver turned himself in last night at the Kapolei police station, where he was arrested about 9:20 p.m. on suspicion of first-degree negligent homicide and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in serious injury or death. The negligent-homicide charge is brought in cases where the offending driver is believed to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs when a fatal accident occurs.

Investigators said the boy who was killed yesterday was not wearing a bicycle helmet. His was the 65th traffic death of the year on O'ahu, compared with 79 during the same period last year.

Gift certificates forged; Two arrested

Two women, 38 and 52, were arrested at Pearlridge Mall yesterday after they allegedly used forged gift certificates to purchase merchandise from a mall store.

Police said the women gave the bogus certificates to a cashier in exchange for merchandise about 11:30 a.m. and the cashier became suspicious of the certificates when the two women were leaving.

The cashier summoned a manager, who realized the certificates were phony and called mall security.

The two women were detained until police arrived and arrested them on suspicion of second-degree forgery and second-degree identity theft.

Wife says mate kidnapped her

Police yesterday arrested a 24-year-old Liliha man after his wife, 21, reported that the man held her against her will for more than eight hours Sunday.

The woman told police that she got into an argument with her husband about 12:30 p.m. and that he forced her to go with him, beat her and threatened her with a knife until about 9 p.m..

The husband was found yesterday and arrested on suspicion of kidnapping.

Two women sought in purse theft

Police are asking for the public's help in identifying two women whom they believe stole a woman's purse Nov. 9 at a Mo'ili'ili service station.

This was the pickup truck driven by two women who police believe stole a purse from another woman at a Mo'ili'ili service station on Nov. 9.

While the driver was distracting the victim, a female passenger got out of the truck, walked around to the passenger side of the victim's car, reached through the open window and grabbed the victim's purse from the dashboard. The incident was recorded on a video surveillance system, police said.

They believe the truck that was used is a black Chevrolet, possibly a 1500 model, with a hunting-dog cage in the bed and "Chevrolet" painted in bright red across the tailgate.