Man pleads not guilty in conflict
The 26-year-old is accused of attempting to run over a jogger
A man convicted of manslaughter for recklessly causing the death of a drunken police officer in 1996 pleaded not guilty yesterday in Circuit Court to charges stemming from a traffic incident involving a jogger.
Gabriel Kealoha, 26, was indicted last month with two counts of first-degree terroristic threatening. He is accused of attempting to run down a jogger near Kahala Mall on Nov. 6 after the two got into an argument over an earlier traffic incident.
His attorney, Brook Hart, said Kealoha takes the matter very seriously and even before the incident recognized that he needed to find ways of keeping his cool. Kealoha has since enrolled in anger management classes, completing an initial phase, he said.
"He's been addressing issues that led to this incident in a very responsible and mature way, and the community can rest assured that whatever happened will not be repeated in any context," Hart said.
He said Kealoha regrets what occurred but does not know specifically what the state is accusing him of and cannot respond specifically to the charges at this time.
Kealoha is currently taking online college courses and running a family business called Pampered Fish, caring for fish and providing aquarium services around the island.
In October 1996, Kealoha, then 17, got into a confrontation with off-duty police officer Sgt. Arthur Miller on the H-1 freeway in an apparent road rage case.
During a struggle, Miller fell to his death off the airport viaduct. Kealoha was found guilty of reckless manslaughter and sent to the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility until age 19.