Posted on: Friday, October 1, 2004

POLICE BEAT
Mo-ped rider critical after crash

Advertiser Staff

A 24-year-old man was in critical condition after being injured about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday when he lost control of his mo-ped on North King Street in Kalihi.

Police traffic investigators said the man was riding on King Street near the Ola Lane overpass when he realized he was traveling too fast to follow a curve in the road.

Investigators said the mo-ped rider braked hard, skidded and sideswiped a pickup truck being driven by a 40-year-old man before being thrown from the moped.

The rider, who was not wearing a helmet, was taken to The Queen's Medical Center.

Four attack, rob Kalihi pedestrian

Police were looking for four men in their 20s who assaulted and robbed another man at knifepoint about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in Kalihi as he was walking home.

Police said the man told them all four of the men confronted him, asking for money, and then attacked him several blocks from the Kalihi police station.

Although the robbery victim was cut twice by one of the men who had a knife, he was able to walk to the police station to report the incident. He was taken to The Queen's Medical Center, where he was treated and released.

Church worker indicted in abuses

A 42-year-old laborer who worked at a Honolulu church was indicted by the O'ahu grand jury yesterday on charges of sexually assaulting four minors under age 14.

Curtis Barnes was charged in the indictment with six counts of third-degree sexual assault for allegedly molesting the four minors on separate dates between Feb. 1 and July 10 of last year.

Third-degree sexual assault carries a prison term of up to five years.

Escaped mental patient arrested

A 24-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of second-degree escape Wednesday after she left a building in downtown Honolulu where she had been taken earlier that day to attend a mental health program.

Police said the woman had been committed to the state hospital in Kane'ohe in connection with a criminal case against her. She was brought downtown for the mental health program, where she told those supervising her that she had to use the bathroom.

When the woman failed to return, police were called and found her at about 10:40 a.m. in the parking lot of a building across the street.