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Honolulu police captured a 28-year-old suspected car thief after a wild pursuit in which an officer fired shots at the fleeing suspect this morning in Pearl City. Police nab alleged
thief after wild chaseAn officer fires shots
at the suspect, 28, who
is caught in Pearl CityBy Nelson Daranciang
ndaranciang@starbulletin.comPolice received a call that someone was breaking into a car at Red Carnation bar at 719 Kamehameha Highway at 4:49 a.m. When officers arrived, the suspect fled in another stolen car, said Lt. Michael Tanaka, of the police department's Internal Affairs Division. Internal Affairs is investigating the incident because shots were fired.
Tanaka said police caught up with the suspect in the Pearl City Shopping Center parking lot outside the Longs Drug Store at 850 Kamehameha Highway.
The suspect drove out of the parking lot near the First Hawaiian Bank, turned right onto Waimano Home Road, then turned left into Pacheco Playground next to the Pearl City Police Station, where he crashed into a car and the gate to the playground's parking lot, Tanaka said.
"(The Officers) tell him to get out of the car, turn the engine off and stuff. He reverses toward the officers. The officers jumped out of the way. One of them fired rounds at the guy," he said.
Tanaka said there were at least four officers behind the car when the suspect put the car in reverse. The suspect then fled makai on Waimano Home Road, crashed into a traffic-signal pole at the Kamehameha Highway intersection and continued across the highway to Lehua Avenue.
"He ends up just coming this way, rolling. He still tried to get away. The car ain't going anywhere because of its condition," Tanaka said.
The suspect then fled on foot running west on Fourth Street. Police found him hiding behind a car in the carport at 927 Fourth St. at 6:27 a.m.
The suspect was arrested for attempted murder, auto theft and criminal property damage.
Neither the suspect nor the officers were injured.