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Police shooting death costs city $125,000
The City Council has approved a $125,000 settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of Jared Fe Benito, the 16-year-old shot and killed by police in June 1996.Fe Benito was the driver of a car that had been reported stolen and was stopped by police on Moanalua Road in Waimalu. Officers boxed in the car and, police said, shot Fe Benito as the vehicle reversed toward the officers.
Councilman John Henry Felix, chairman of the Policy Committee, said yesterday that he and colleagues were told that another boy in the passenger seat actually had his foot on the pedal as the car reversed.
Prosecutors earlier had determined that the shooting was justified and declined to charge the officer, who is no longer with the department.
The Fe Benito family had sought $400,000 in its lawsuit.
Five officers receive certificates of merit
Five officers were among six people presented certificates of merit yesterday by police Chief Lee Donohue.Robert Bucknam was honored for capturing a thief who allegedly stole a woman's wallet Feb. 11 on North King Street. Other receiving certificates of merit were:
Officer Gerald Scoville, who used an automated external defibrillator to restore a man's irregular heart rhythm and breathing March 5 at the Disabled American Veterans Hall. Donohue presented Dr. Jack Scaff and Tom Wilder with letters of appreciation and Sgt. Margaret Hirakawa with a divisional commendation for aiding the victim at the scene.
Juvenile sex offender center seeks new site
The administration is trying to find a new site for a juvenile sex offender treatment center at the old Waimano Training School in Pearl City, Gov. Ben Cayetano said yesterday.Area residents expressed anger when they learned in February that the state was planning to put the facility in a renovated building near Pearl City High School and Momilani Elementary School. The possible alternative site is nearly a mile away from the schools and near a state law enforcement facility that would enhance security, Cayetano said.
'Career offender' gets term for drug dealing
Talatonu Tupuola, 40, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison Monday for distributing "crack" cocaine on a mall fronting businesses in the Chinese Cultural Plaza.He drew a longer sentence as a "career offender," the U.S. Attorney's office said. The mall is within the Chinatown "Weed and Seed" site.
Corrections
Clarification
An article Tuesday on the Big Island's Saddle Road referred to a statement by hunter Katsuya Yamada that one side effect of a road improvement project would be an end to hunting at Kipuka Alala. Project consultant Ron Terry said there may have been hunting there in the past, but none has been allowed recently. Terry said the project calls for elimination of mammals from the area, including pigs, and no hunting would be allowed in the future.
Police, Fire, Courts
By Star-Bulletin staffHonolulu Police Department Crimestoppers
Boy mauled by dogs may need surgery as an adult
WAILUKU, Maui -- A 10-year-old boy mauled by three dogs in a rural area may require reconstructive surgery once he becomes an adult, his father said.David Ezzy said it's unclear now whether his son, Graham, will require surgery to repair his muscle or will recover fully from the attack.
"We're really lucky there were no broken bones," Ezzy said. "Graham is a pretty beefy kid."
Graham Ezzy, who was seeking donations for a Boy Scout project, was walking along Waiama Way in Haiku last Thursday when he was attacked by three dogs as he approached a garage.
He was bitten on the arms and legs and spent two nights in Maui Memorial Medical Center.
Norman Clark, a neighbor, said he was fixing his car when he heard screams for help and saw the dogs attacking the boy on the ground.
Clark ran out to help, throwing his pliers and wrench at the dogs, who ran away.
The dogs were being watched by the owner's father, who took them in the next day to the Maui Humane Society, where they were killed.
Woman critically injured in H-1 freeway accident
A 20-year-old Pearl City woman is in critical condition today after being thrown from her car when it hit an embankment on the H-1 freeway last night.Police said the accident occurred at 10:37 p.m. last night when the 1988 blue Ford Thunderbird the woman was driving crossed over two westbound lanes and collided with the grass and dirt embankment near the Nuuanu Avenue overpass.
The woman, who police said wasn't wearing her seat belt, was thrown from the car which rolled several times before landing upside down. She was taken by ambulance to Queen's Medical Center.
Big Island man charged in knife, sexual attack
KAILUA-KONA -- Police have charged Norbert Lee Alcaide, 26, of Kailua-Kona with 10 offenses in connection with a knife attack and sexual assault in North Kona last week.Alcaide was charged with attempted murder, assault, kidnapping, four counts of sexual assault, terroristic threatening, burglary, and car theft. He is being held in lieu of $450,000 bail.
The victim told police she was attacked in her apartment at night by a naked man who cut her face and neck with a knife.
Suicide victim named, was found in stream
HILO -- A person whose body was found floating in Honolii Stream north of Hilo last week has been identified by her fingerprints as Annette Denise Clark, 29, of Hilo.An autopsy determined the cause of death was multiple injuries consistent with a fall from a height, and the case is now classified as suicide, police said.
