Chase ends in capture of Big Island escapee
By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big island Bureau
HILO, Hawai'i — After a seven-mile chase by car and on foot, Big Island police on Thursday recaptured a prison inmate who escaped from the low-security Hale Nani Correctional Facility outside Hilo last month.
Blaine K. "Tiger" Faris, 41, was charged with escape, resisting an order to stop, reckless driving, four counts of reckless endangering and other traffic violations stemming from the pursuit, police said.
FARIS
Faris, who was sentenced to prison in 1991 in connection with the death of a police officer, has fled from authorities three times in the past year, police said.
Officers had been looking for Faris since corrections officers discovered him missing from Hale Nani during a bed check the night of April 29.
The Thursday morning chase began when Puna patrol officers saw Faris driving an older model Toyota, and waiting to pull out of the Mountain View Minimart.
Officers turned around and tried to stop Faris' car, but Faris led them onto the Mountain View Gym road, around through Ueyama Camp, back onto the Hawai'i Belt Road, down South Kulani Road and into Fern Acres subdivision.
Faris finally pulled up to a vacant house near the intersection of G Road and 1 Road, and fled on foot into the house. Officers arrested him without further incident at 10:44 a.m.
Police found a 36-year-old man, a 35-year-old woman and two young children in Faris' car. The passengers told police they had been hitchhiking and gotten a ride from Faris.
Faris was sentenced in April 1991 to 10 years in prison after pleading no contest to manslaughter in the death of officer Ronald "Shige" Jitchaku 11 months earlier. Jitchaku died after suffering injuries as police tried to break up a fight involving 200 people near Hilo's Banyan Drive after a concert.
Faris was later released, re-arrested on new charges in 1997, sent back to prison, and released again.
In August 2003, police said Faris led an officer in a car chase through Hawaiian Paradise Park, ran his vehicle into an embankment and ran away before being caught by the pursuing officer.
A month later, Faris allegedly fled on foot when officers stopped his car on Banyan Drive in Hilo. Police caught Faris, and his parole was later revoked, police said.
Faris was being held last night in lieu of $5,100 bail at the Hawai'i Community Correctional Center.
