A complaint about a derelict vehicle resulted in the arrest yesterday of a 49-year-old man in Punalu'u on suspicion of car theft, driving without a license and four contempt-of-court warrants.

A police dispatcher who took the complaint call, ran a check on the car's license plates and found the car had been reported stolen.

Officers responding to the call momentarily lost sight of the car but found it again in Punalu'u and arrested the driver.

Suspected car thief arrested

Acting on a tip, police caught up with a suspected car thief and arrested him at a Honolulu hotel about 3:50 p.m. yesterday.

Officers from the downtown Crime Reduction Unit went to the hotel, found the car and set up a surveillance operation.

They watched as a 35-year-old man got into the car, started it and began to reverse out of the parking stall.

At that point, police moved in and arrested the man for suspicion of car theft and fraudulent use of license plates.

Alleged assaulter arrested in Kalihi

A 55 year-old man was arrested yesterday for allegedly assaulting his 46-year-old girlfriend in Kaimuki last month and ruining her television.

The girlfriend told police that she got into an argument with her boyfriend Aug. 9, during which the man hit her on the arm with a brass mallet and then used the mallet to destroy her TV.