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Police nab suspect in
Big Island hostage case


By Peter Serafin
Special to the Star-Bulletin

HILO >> Big Island police were holding a 33-year-old man without bail after he allegedly held a hostage at the Naniloa Hotel during a 15-hour standoff with police that ended yesterday morning.

Police said David Field, of Hilo, surrendered at 9:45 a.m. yesterday and is being held at the Hilo police cellblock pending investigation of kidnapping, terroristic threatening, possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony, being a felon in possession of a firearm and other felony offenses.

The incident began when Hilo police received a tip that Field was staying at the hotel.

According to Hawaii Police Department Maj. Charles Chai Jr., Field was being sought on several outstanding warrants, four for contempt of court and one for revocation of probation. Police approached Field at 6:30 Thursday night outside his second-floor hotel room.

He fled, crashing through a plate glass window as he climbed up to a third-floor balcony, police said. Police followed the trail of blood to an eighth-floor corridor, where they confronted him.

Chai said Field then grabbed a hotel guest, a 51-year-old Maui resident, and forced the man back into his room. According to police, Field was armed with a .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol.

The police Special Response Team arrived and evacuated about 300 hotel guests and employees, according to Chai.

At 1 a.m., SRT officers successfully negotiated the release of the hostage, who was not identified. After Field surrendered, he was taken to Hilo Medical Center for treatment of injuries from running through the window, police said.

This was the first hostage situation the SRT has handled in its one-year history.

Among those affected by the evacuation were the players and coaches of BYU-Hawaii's men's basketball team, who were not allowed to check in when they arrived at the hotel after practice at 10 p.m.



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