GARY T. KUBOTA / GKUBOTA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Clinton A.K. Estrella, top, was ordered held without bail after an initial appearance yesterday in Maui District Court, where he faced a first-degree attempted-murder charge against a police officer. To his right were Deputy Public Defender Gene Evans and Deputy Prosecutor John Tam.
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Bail denied for Maui defendant
Accused: man allegedly tried to kill officer
WAILUKU » Maui District Judge Barclay McDonald refused bail for a man accused of attempting to kill a police officer during a chase.
McDonald said yesterday that the charge against Clinton A.K. Estrella was serious and noted that allegedly Estrella rammed the vehicle he was driving several times into a police car. Police had initially set Estrella's bail at $100,000. Estrella, 23, was scheduled to have a preliminary hearing at 1 p.m. tomorrow in Maui District Court.
Estrella, who seemed upset at Deputy Prosecutor John Tam's motion for no bail, said to his attorney during the court appearance: "Does it look like I get a hundred thousand dollars? I am going nowhere."
Tam, interviewed later, said the Prosecutor's Office was reviewing other possible charges against Estrella. The first-degree attempted-murder charge carries the state's harshest sentence -- life without the possibility of parole.
The 15-mile pursuit with speeds up to about 65 miles an hour and a physical struggle resulted in injuries to four officers, including an open wound requiring 12 stitches.
According to a police affidavit filed in court, police responded to an anonymous call about 10:30 p.m. Friday saying there were five men in a Nissan Pathfinder at a Kamehameha Schools parking lot in Paukukalo and one of them had brandished a handgun.
GARY T. KUBOTA / GKUBOTA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Police officers impounded the vehicle used by Estrella, shown above, in his alleged attempt to elude them in a high-speed chase. He is also accused of ramming an officer's patrol car.
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Police officer Brandon Rodrigues said when he got to the parking lot, he saw Estrella in a different vehicle and, at gunpoint, ordered him out of the car.
Instead of stopping, Estrella, who had outstanding warrants for his arrest on Family Court matters and is serving five years probation, accelerated his car and rammed a police vehicle, narrowly missing an officer, authorities said.
Rodrigues said he pursued Estrella onto Kahekili Highway, where he wove in and out of oncoming traffic.
Estrella eventually hit a cattle fence near mile marker 8 in Kahakuloa. Rodrigues said he fired his electrical stun gun at Estrella, who was in the car. The stun gun apparently did not immobilize Estrella, who is about 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 235 pounds.
The stun gun's wire connection broke off as Estrella drove away and headed back toward Wailuku, Rodrigues said.
Rodrigues said Estrella's car ran off the road down a 40-foot embankment. When he got to the embankment, Rodrigues and another officer spotted Estrella, who tried to run away. Rodrigues said he fired his stun gun at Estrella, but the wires to the gun got wrapped around Rodrigues' arm as he and Estrella tumbled down a hill.
GARY T. KUBOTA / GKUBOTA@STARBULLETIN.COM
The police car door had been bent back enough to allow the door to close so it could be driven to a repair shop, police said.
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Rodrigues began hitting Estrella in the face and body when he refused to give up his hands to be handcuffed.
Rodrigues said he later used his stun gun several times on Estrella, but Estrella continued to struggle until more officers arrived to subdue him.
Estrella, who has been arrested 45 times and has 23 prior convictions including seven felonies, served a 30-day jail term ending Oct. 6 for driving without a license. He was sentenced on Aug. 10 to five years probation for second-degree burglary of a Kihei store, from which he stole a glass pipe. He was also convicted of first-degree terroristic threatening for illegally entering a vehicle and brandishing a knife to take sunglasses.