Gabriel Kealoha, Arthur Miller

But the attorney for the straight-A Kamehameha Schools senior said the boy will be cleared of any wrongdoing.

Prosecutors charged him at 8:15 last night, and he was held overnight at the Alder Street detention facility.

Arthur Miller, a 19-year Police Department veteran, was killed late Sunday afternoon in a 33-foot fall from a viaduct above Nimitz Highway at the Aolele Street entrance to Honolulu Airport.

"What happened out there was a fight," attorney Hayden Aluli said yesterday. "The guardrail was so low, the officer just fell over."

Miller and the boy, who were driving separate cars, had pulled off to the mauka side of the eastbound H-1 freeway and were involved in a scuffle.

Aluli claimed Miller's erratic driving scared the boy, which "compelled him to pull off."

He said his client smelled alcohol on Miller's breath and said the boy never knew that Miller - who was in civilian clothes - was an off-duty police officer.

"The officer looked like an officer not at all," Aluli said. " ... He was belligerent. ... It's a tragic incident. There are two victims here."

The police version of what happened differed sharply.

In a midday news conference, officials said several witnesses saw Miller being shoved off the freeway by the suspect.

"There was a struggle," Lt. Allen Napoleon said. And the aggressor clearly was the suspect, he said.

Police said they are not sure why Miller did not call for backup assistance or why he pulled his black Chevrolet sedan in front of the suspect's car, instead of behind as is the standard practice in a traffic stop. But there's no indication that Miller attempted to pull the boy over, police said.

Miller's car had no police lights strapped on, nor was he carrying his service revolver, which was in his Chevrolet, police said.

Some witnesses overheard the conversation between the sergeant and the boy, but Napoleon declined to discuss what was said. He waved off the claims by Aluli that the boy acted in self-defense. "You gotta go by the people who saw what happened," he said.

The driver's side door of Miller's car was open, with the engine still running when officers arrived at the scene. Miller's radio microphone was on the front seat. Miller did not make any call to dispatch, police said.

"As a police officer you make a lot of decisions," Napoleon said.

Police said Miller and the boy were not previously acquainted and according to witnesses neither had been drinking.

The suspect already has been checked for any alcohol in his blood, police said.

The medical examiner's office said yesterday that an autopsy showed that Miller died of multiple internal injuries.

Police rescinded an earlier statement that the boy had attempted to flee the scene but was boxed in by witnesses. Instead, they said that he stopped in traffic about 80 yards away as witnesses dialing police on cellular telephones jammed lanes. Aluli has said the boy left to try to get help.

The "suspect just pulled over by himself," Napoleon said.

Miller was headed from Waianae, where he has a home for sale, to Honolulu. Aluli claimed Miller had recently gone through a divorce and had a restraining order against him.

He said his juvenile client has "lots of feelings of guilt. I just hope the public doesn't rush to judgment."

Aluli said the senior had a perfect record of six As in his courses this semester in school. He has no criminal record, Aluli said.

"He wants to graduate this year," Aluli said. " ... He will be cleared."

Police are asking anyone who witnessed the confrontation or the prior traffic incident to call Detectives Mark Wiese or Michael Tsuda of the homicide detail at 529-3115. Calls can also be made to the CrimeStoppers hot line at 955-8300.