Man slain by police was wanted in California

By Christie Wilson
Advertiser Neighbor Island Editor

WAILUKU, Maui — Charles B. Ogden, who was shot and killed by Maui police last week, was wanted on a felony arrest warrant for a September incident at a California state park that was similar to the confrontation that led to his death on a Kihei beach.

Charles Ogden, a former Oklahoma resident and disabled veteran, had no permanent residence and for years had gone back and forth between the Mainland and Hawai'i.

An arrest warrant for Ogden was issued on felony charges of improper use of tear gas, assault with a deadly weapon and criminal threat.

Ogden's older brother, Mike Ogden of Stigler, Okla., said yesterday police released information about the California arrest warrant "to blow it up and make it sound like he's a really bad person."

"I don't care what happened in California. What they did on that beach that day was wrong," he said.

Ogden pointed out that in both the Maui and California cases, his brother was approached by others first and that "he was just trying to avoid confrontations."

"What he did was wrong. He did something silly that day (on Maui), and sometimes he did respond in unusual little ways. But he did everything he could to avoid conflict with police."

Charles Ogden, a former Oklahoma resident and disabled veteran, had no permanent residence and for years had gone back and forth between the Mainland and Hawai'i.

He was at Waiohuli Beach in Kihei on Feb. 29 when a woman complained that he was exposing his genitals to beachgoers by wearing loose shorts. Ogden pulled his pants down in front of the woman, and when a Maui police officer arrived, he began walking away.

Police said Ogden used pepper spray on a citizen who tried to intervene and then sprayed the officer. The officer, who has not been identified, was partially blinded by the potent spray, meant to repel bears, and fired six shots at Ogden, police said. Four hit him.

The shooting remains under investigation by Maui Police Department detectives, but Police Chief Thomas Phillips has said the officer's use of deadly force was justified.

Stephen Bylin, supervising state park ranger at California's Topanga State Park, in the cliffs and canyons of the Santa Monica Mountains, said yesterday that Ogden was considered a potentially dangerous character because of his "abrasiveness and aggressiveness."

"We were very concerned. He was unstable and angered very easily," Bylin said.

Ogden had been in the area only a week or two and was illegally camping in the state park, spending a lot of time at the county's neighboring Topanga Beach, Bylin said.

The incident occurred in a recently acquired area of the park that contains about 50 homes. One of the residents there approached Ogden as he was bathing nude in a creek and asked him not to do so because the area was frequented by women and children. Ogden threatened the man and demanded to be left alone, Bylin said.

A couple days later the same resident confronted Ogden again at the creek and was sprayed with pepper spray. The man fell to his knees and when Ogden continued to approach, he threw rocks at him, causing Ogden to retreat, according to Bylin.

County sheriffs were summoned but couldn't find the suspect.

Several days later, three park rangers surprised Ogden at his campsite and chased him a long distance over rough terrain, steep hillsides and through a private residential area before he escaped, Bylin said.

Late that evening, the resident involved in the earlier incidents at the creek heard dogs barking and went outside to investigate. He waited in the dark and watched Ogden approach the house carrying a sack of rocks and a sharpened wooden stake.

The resident waited until Ogden got closer and then shined a bright flashlight in his eyes and knocked the stake from his hand with a stick, Bylin said. Ogden flailed about and swung the bag of rocks at the resident before fleeing.

"We never saw him again," Bylin said.

Ogden has a minor criminal record in Hawai'i: three petty misdemeanors in the 1980s for theft and harassment on the Big Island.

Ogden's cousin, Jayne Lynch of Dickson, Okla., said yesterday the family is trying to get more information on the circumstances surrounding the Maui shooting. Although Ogden was estranged from his mother, other family members have said he was a nonviolent man.

Ogden returned to Oklahoma once or twice a year, and stayed with Lynch's parents for about a month in October and November before heading off to Hawai'i, where he liked to spend his winters, Lynch said.

"Ben loved that place and he loved the people of Hawai'i," she said. "He wasn't an evil person. He was a transient, but that didn't make him evil."

Mike Ogden said his brother was hard-working as a young man and served in the Marines. He said he was "a model guest" during his final visit to Oklahoma, and spent the time restoring a tractor.

A funeral is tentatively scheduled for Monday in Eufaula, Okla.

Reach Christie Wilson at cwilson@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 244-4880.