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Shooting victim Clinton Candelario was wanted on five state court bench warrants after flunking out of the Hawaii Drug Court Program when he was fatally shot in Aiea yesterday by two police officers attempting to arrest him.
had troubled past
A man shot dead by police failed
Drug Court and was sought
on 5 court warrantsPrevious fatal police shootings
By Nelson Daranciang
ndaranciang@starbulletin.comEach warrant carried a $50,000 cash-only bail.
Police said the shooting was the culmination of events that started about 7 a.m. yesterday as officers investigated a report of a suspicious vehicle in the parking lot of the Moanalua Golf Club. By the time officers arrived, the vehicle was no longer there, said Bill Kato, Honolulu Police Department Homicide Detail.
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A witness told the officers that the green SUV had gone into Moanalua Valley. While the officers were still there, the SUV returned, Kato said. The driver ignored the officers' attempts to flag him down; however, they recognized the driver as Candelario.The officers pursued the SUV into Salt Lake.
"Because of the traffic conditions at that time, we terminated the pursuit, we lost him," said Lee Donohue, Honolulu police chief.
Later, officers following up on a report that Candelario was operating a vehicle recklessly in Pearl City went to look for him at a residence on Pamoho Place in Aiea. When they arrived, Candelario fled out of a back window, Kato said.
Candelario then appeared at 99-055 Kauhale St., across from the Aiea post office, where he found an unlocked door on the side of the home, police said.
"He went into the home, demanded the keys from the woman that was inside the house. She gave him the keys. He walked out, was approaching the car when she started screaming," Kato said.
The home is that of Aiea High School Athletic Director Roy Miyoga. He said the woman who screamed is his wife, who was shaken up by the incident. Roy Miyoga was not home at the time.
At about 8 a.m., two officers looking for Candelario on Kauhale Street heard the screams and went to the home.
"At that time they found the suspect in the garage attempting to steal the woman's car," Kato said. "As the officers approached, they tried to drag him out of the vehicle."
He said Candelario was able to start the car and put it in reverse, pinning one of the officers against the side of the garage.
"He was pinned because the driver's door was open. The officer, fearing that he was going to get knocked under the car, pulled his weapon, fired one shot," Kato said.
The other officer fired one shot through the passenger window. Both hit Candelario. He was pronounced dead at the scene. His mother and stepfather, who went to the scene, identified his body before it was taken to the morgue.
Both officers, assigned to Pearl City patrol, received scrapes and bruises and were treated at the scene. They are on administrative leave pending the outcome of investigations by HPD's Homicide Detail and Internal Affairs Division.
Candelario, 28, had five active criminal cases pending in state Circuit Court that had been put on hold because of his enrollment in the Hawaii Drug Court Program on Oct. 22, 2000. However, he was kicked out of the program on March 19.
According to state court documents, Candelario admitted to program coordinators that he was involved in a car accident on March 14 while operating a vehicle without a driver's license. He also admitted that he had sold stolen goods and drugs while enrolled in the program. He fled before program coordinators could arrange his return to the Oahu Community Correctional Center.
Candelario had already spent the month of January in OCCC for testing positive for methamphetamine, or "ice," the month before, then failing to report to program coordinators for three days, according to court documents.
The five cases that had been put on hold involve first-degree burglary, second-degree burglary, auto theft, a car break-in and credit card theft.
Candelario was charged with first-degree burglary for allegedly breaking into a Kalihi home on April 23, 2000, while a resident was still home. The second-degree burglary case involves the break-in at Jeffrey Apaka's Waikiki Community Center office on Sept. 20, 2000.
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Honolulu police have been involved in five fatal shootings over the last four years prior to yesterday's incident in Aiea. They include: Previous fatal police shootings
Star-Bulletin staff
>> A police sharpshooter firing a round into the chest of 20-year-old Dustan Long on June 3, 2001, at Long's home in Wahiawa. Prior to the shooting, police said, Long had fired seven rounds, had already sent two people to the hospital with gunshot wounds and had fired upon police at the scene twice.
>> The shooting of 27-year-old Levi Esperas, who was driving a stolen van on the H-2 freeway on April 17, 2001. Esperas had attempted to flee the van after it hit a concrete barrier, and got into a scuffle with officer Robert Steiner. During the struggle, Esperas shot Steiner's hand with a shotgun, then fired at two other officers at the scene. Esperas hit another police officer in the face but was killed when the officers returned fire.
>> Police firing as many as 20 rounds at Michell Udani after Udani killed his estranged girlfriend Cherry Ann Cachola with a shotgun on Jan. 13, 2001. Udani had confronted Cachola on the third-floor parking lot of Ala Moana Center after she got off from work and shot her twice in the head at close range. Shopping center surveillance videotapes showed Udani firing once at police after he shot Cachola, then showed police returning fire and hitting Udani several times.
>> The shooting of Bernard Crivello during a traffic stop in Waikiki on October 3, 2000. Officials from the city prosecutor's office said the officer was forced to jump away from the Jeep that Crivello was driving after he had approached Cri- vello on foot and asked him for his identification, vehicle registration and insurance.
Prosecutors said Crivello had reversed the Jeep and repeatedly accelerated forward and back, striking the officer's Cushman vehicle several times. Prosecutors said according to witnesses, Crivello had managed to push the officer's Cushman vehicle into the street with the Jeep and that the officer involved shot Crivello because it appeared the Jeep was heading toward him.
The bullet struck Crivello in the neck, killing him. Based upon the city prosecutor's investigation, no action was taken against the police officer involved in the shooting.
>> The shooting of Fortunato Barques III in Pupukea on May 4, 1998. According to police, the officer involved in the shooting believed Barques was reaching for a gun and that he had no choice but to fire. Earlier this year, Barques' family was awarded a $250,000 settlement after a U.S. District Court judge ruled that the officer had used excessive force during the shooting.