Shooting victim
was wantedMaui police shot the 27-year-old
woman who was wanted
for probation violation
WAILUKU >> The 27-year-old woman shot by Maui police after a chase in an allegedly stolen car had a history of drug use, car theft and running from authorities.
Lisa Kaina was wanted by Maui Circuit Court for a probation violation from a 2003 car theft conviction when police chased the 2004 Cadillac she was driving into Paia town Friday afternoon.
Kaina, also known as Lisa K. Tomita and Lisa Naeole, died from a single shot to the head, fired by a police officer after she tried to reverse the Cadillac into an officer near the Bank of Hawaii along Baldwin Avenue, police said.
Kaina's family members have criticized police for shooting her rather than disabling the car by shooting the tires.
Police detectives are scheduled to hold a news conference at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow to discuss the shooting in detail.
Kaina pleaded no contest on Oct. 21 to felony charges related to stealing a pickup truck in Makawao, possessing a burglary tool and having a plastic packet containing crystal methamphetamine.
Maui police officer Darrell Ramos said he saw Kaina at the Pukalani Shell gasoline station and stopped to arrest her on June 27.
Ramos said he found Kaina hiding underneath a vehicle.
"I advised her to get out from under the car, at which time she did," Ramos said in court records. "She made her way toward the opposite side of where I was standing, and once she stood up, she bolted for the highway."
Ramos said he pursued on foot and grabbed Kaina, and she resisted but was arrested after a struggle.
A packet of crystal methamphetamine was found near her shoes, which came off when she began to run, and there also was a glass pipe in a red cosmetic bag, he said.
Also recovered was a stolen pickup truck and a "shaved key" used as a burglary tool, Ramos said.
At her sentencing Dec. 18, Maui Circuit Judge Joseph Cardoza placed Kaina on probation for five years.
But Kaina failed to call her probation officer the next day to schedule an appointment and had not been seen or heard from since the sentencing, court records said.
Kaina has three children, ages 3, 6, and 8, who have been staying with relatives.
Kaina's mother, Avon Kealoha, told court officials in 2002 that Kaina was using drugs.
"She leave the children to fend for themselves while she sleeps all day and became violent with the children and myself when she gets up," Kealoha said in a domestic abuse complaint.
Kaina later pleaded no contest to the charge of abuse of a family and household member.
Her husband, Isaac G.K. Kaina, has been in the Maui jail on a 15-day sentence for a contempt-of-court misdemeanor conviction and is scheduled to be released in a couple of days.