ROD THOMPSON / RTHOMPSON@STARBULLETIN.COM Two Hilo detectives looked over the blue sedan occupied by theft suspects before a police officer shot the driver early yesterday. The driver, whose identity was not released, was wounded in the upper torso. What looks like a bullet hole is visible in the windshield above the steering wheel.

Cop claims
self-defense
in shooting

The wounded man allegedly
tried to run down the Hilo officer

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By Rod Thompson
rthompson@starbulletin.com

HILO >> A 28-year-old man shot by a policeman in downtown Hilo yesterday was trying to use his car to run down the officer, police said.

The man, whose name was not released, was in serious but stable condition at Hilo Medical Center after undergoing surgery for a wound to the upper left torso near his shoulder, police said.

The blue 1987 Honda used by the suspect remained on Shipman Street fronting the Hilo Armory throughout the morning following the shooting shortly after 3 a.m. A small hole, apparently caused by the officer's bullet, was visible in the windshield.

Police said they received a call of a theft in progress at 3:12 a.m. at a small laundromat across the street from the armory.

Arriving officers found two men in the Honda parked opposite the laundromat.

One of the men, identified as Justine Aoki, 20, of Hilo, was in the driver's seat, police said.

The other man, identified only as a 28-year-old man of no permanent address, was sleeping in the back seat.

He awoke, forced Aoki out of the car and rapidly reversed it, police said. He then drove rapidly forward toward one of the responding officers.

That officer, a 20-year-veteran with the department, fired a single shot from his 9 mm semiautomatic handgun, wounding the driver, police said.

At midmorning the car remained lodged against a parking meter where it came to rest.

Police initiated a first-degree attempted-assault case against the driver, but he was not immediately charged while hospitalized.

Aoki was charged with fourth-degree attempted theft, with his bail set at $250. He was also held without bail for revocation of supervised release. He was to be arraigned in district court today.

The officer involved in the shooting was placed on administrative leave, a standard procedure after a police shooting. The officer will be offered counseling, said police spokesman Buck Donham. Officers vary in how quickly they adjust to involvement in a shooting, he said.