More details about car chase emerge

By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer

District Judge Leslie Hayashi yesterday ordered that the two men arrested in connection with an island-wide car chase on Friday be turned over to Circuit Court to face various felony charges.

Brandon Ikaika Molina, left, and Frederick J. Morales will be arraigned April 5 in Circuit Court.

Frederick J. Morales, 25, was charged with robbery, unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle and drug counts. His bail was set at $50,000.

On Friday, the pair allegedly led police on a two-hour chase that involved one officer firing five shots at the fleeing car. The chase started in 'Aiea and nearly circled the island before ending in Waipahu.

Along the way, police officer Eric Kirby suffered minor injuries when he was struck by the stolen car, which damaged four other vehicles in the Mapunapuna area and on H-1 Freeway.

Kirby said he was directing traffic along a stretch of Kamehameha Highway in Hau'ula when a light silver Honda veered around a stopped vehicle and accelerated toward him.

"It was right in front of me before I had a chance to react," Kirby said. The two men in the Honda had T-shirts wrapped around the lower half of their faces, Kirby said.

He said the Honda struck him in his right thigh but he was able to fire five shots at the fleeing vehicle.

Happy Taualii, 74, said two men forced her white Toyota Corolla off Kamehameha Highway across from La'ie Elementary School and screamed at her to get out of the car. When she refused, one of the men opened the unlocked driver's door and tried to pull her out of the car, Taualii said.

She said she resisted and that the two men gave up, got back in the Honda and fled toward Hale'iwa when police officers approached her car.

Michael Meierdiercks said he had borrowed a friend's Dodge pickup truck and was headed toward La'ie on Kamehameha Highway when he came to what looked like a traffic collision where the highway intersects with Joseph Leong Highway.

As he slowed to see what was wrong, a man ran at the truck and smashed the windshield with a metal bar or pipe. Meierdiercks said the man was able to climb into the truck through the open window on the driver's side door and ordered him out.

Frederick Pattachia Sr. said he rolled up on the scene in his Ford Econoline van and that one of the men was approaching him with a pipe in his hand. He said he used the van to push the man, who he believed was Morales, over a guardrail.

He said he tried to pin the truck against the guardrail with his van but that Molina was able to maneuver the truck onto the highway and took off toward Wahiawa without Morales, who fell while trying to get into the truck bed.

Police officer Garrick Orosco said he began to follow the Dodge truck just before it entered Wahiawa and arrested Molina after the truck crashed into a railing in Waipahu.

Molina and Morales are to be arraigned April 5 in Circuit Court.

Reach David Waite at 525-8030 or at dwaite@honoluuadvertiser.com.