POLICE BEAT
Man charged in Burger King attack
Advertiser Staff
A man accused of beating another man in the bathroom of Burger King in Wai'anae was charged yesterday with attempted murder.
Gary R. Avilez was charged with one count of attempted murder in the second degree after he allegedly beat Domingo Correa unconscious. Avilez is being held in lieu of $50,000 bail.
At 7:30 p.m. Saturday, police responded to Burger King and found Correa, who is believed to be in his late 60s, lying in a pool of blood with a cut on the left side of his forehead. Correa was unresponsive and was "in and out" of consciousness, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in O'ahu Circuit Court.
Correa was taken to The Queen's Medical Center in serious condition.
A Burger King employee told police she heard an argument in the hallway fronting the restaurant's bathroom, according to the affidavit.
She went to check and allegedly saw Avilez choking Correa with both hands around his neck. The employee ran to inform a manager. Avilez allegedly walked away from Correa and sat in a booth at Burger King until police arrived and arrested him.
At Queen's, Correa's condition worsened and his condition changed to critical because of bleeding in his brain, according to the affidavit.
YOUTHS HELD IN HICKAM BREAK-IN
Seven juveniles were arrested Sunday after they allegedly broke into a warehouse on Hickam Air Force Base and doused it with fire extinguishers.
At 5 p.m. Sunday the group reportedly broke into the warehouse and started spraying fire extinguishers, according to police reports.
One of the boys allegedly threatened a security guard at the scene with a kitchen knife, police said. Police officers arrested the group on suspicion of second-degree burglary.
BOATER RESCUED OFF SOUTH KONA COAST
The Coast Guard and the Hawai'i County Fire Department partnered to save a boater who was adrift off the South Kona coast Sunday morning.
The Coast Guard said a mariner in distress contacted it at 1:20 a.m. Sunday morning when his 17-foot vessel was disabled and powerless near Honaunau Bay. After losing the cell phone connection, the Coast Guard immediately launched a rescue helicopter from Air Station Barbers Point on O'ahu and contacted the fire department for assistance.
The rescue helicopter arrived on the scene at 3:24 a.m., located the vessel and lowered a handheld radio to the boater.
The Hawai'i County Fire Department launched a rescue boat, which took the vessel in tow at 5:45 a.m. and brought the vessel and its lone passenger safely to Keauhou Harbor.
ALLEGED COSTUME THIEF CHASED DOWN
A 32-year-old man was arrested late Saturday after allegedly breaking into a costume shop in Waikiki.
At 11 p.m. Saturday, a man entered the business through an unlocked door and took several costumes from a closet.
A 22-year-old man who works at the store saw the intruder take the costumes, and chased him down a flight of stairs. The intruder ran out and threw the costumes in a trash bin.
The employee caught up with the suspect and, with the help of several witnesses, detained him until police arrived.
DUI ARRESTS RISE 13% ON BIG ISLAND
Drunken-driving arrests on the Big Island are up 13 percent so far this year compared with last year, the Hawai'i County Police Department reported.
Officers made 356 DUI arrests so far this year, compared with 314 at this time last year. The Kona District has accounted for nearly half of the arrests — 170 — this year.
