Police conducted a door-to-door search at a building behind 1610 Liholiho St. for suspects involved with a stolen truck.
Police pondering
car chaosTwo officers are injured and
up to three suspects are being
sought after a series of
carjackings
A flurry of car thefts, carjackings and police chases in the Makiki-Punahou area yesterday afternoon left two officers slightly injured and investigators puzzling over whether the events were related.
Police said they are looking for one to three carjacking suspects.
"We may be looking for more than one guy, unless it's the same guy," said Lt. David Kamai. "A lot of things were happening at the same time and within the same proximity of each other.
"We're still investigating whether these were separate incidents or if they were related."
The chaos began at 12:33 p.m. at the intersection of Maunalaha Road and Round Top Drive. Officers on a stakeout observed a black and blue, two-toned pickup truck with license plates that belonged to a van.
Patrol officers were called to pull the stolen truck over. The driver and another man got out of the truck, but a third man remained inside and drove off, dragging one officer for about 10 to 15 feet.
The officer sustained minor leg injuries.
Another officer fired a shot at the fleeing truck, hitting the vehicle, according to police Capt. Carlton Nishimura.
Police later recovered the truck near 1130 Davenport St., but there was no sign of the suspect.
About 12:45 in Kakaako, another officer was injured while responding to the Round Top incident when a 77-year-old man crashed his car into the officer's patrol car near Kapiolani Boulevard and Cooke Street. That officer was taken to the Queen's Medical Center in stable condition.
In the meantime, there were at least three carjackings and police were trying to figure out last night if they were related to the Round Top case.
One carjacking occurred near the intersection of Young and Keeaumoku streets involving a Lexus just before 2 p.m. Police said the owner of the Lexus was slightly injured when the suspect ran over her foot during the robbery.
Yesterday's series of events included this scene on Tantalus, where police cordoned off an area where an officer had fired his gun several times at a fleeing pickup truck.
A short time later, the suspect got into a collision with a Coca-Cola truck in the parking lot of the Foodland on Beretania Street. Police said the suspect jumped into a stolen gray pickup truck driven by another suspect who had either been following the Lexus or was being followed by the Lexus. Police said an officer was almost hit by the truck and jumped on the hood of a car to avoid the vehicle.
Police located the gray truck abandoned on Poki Street but found no signs of the suspects. About 2:40 p.m., officers discovered a 42-year-old male hiding in the bushes near Punahou School.
Police told school officials about the situation and that they were looking for one more suspect.
"We were notified by HPD by about quarter to 3 that they were in pursuit of a suspect and that he was in the vicinity of the campus," said Laurel Bowers Husain, Punahou School spokeswoman. "Once they notified us of that, we got all of our students into classrooms, the gym, buildings, anyplace that they could get inside on campus, and we stayed there until police believed the area was secure."
Maryknoll School spokes-woman Camille Michaels said students remained under lockdown for about 20 to 30 minutes before police gave the all-clear sign. Roosevelt High School also kept students inside temporarily.
Though police did not locate the second suspect from the gray truck, they believe he might have carjacked a black Honda Civic that had been reported in the area and was last seen heading mauka on the Pali Highway.
There was also another carjacking of a gray Toyota near the 1200 block of Pensacola Street. Police are unsure as to whether it was a related or isolated incident.
"We have 15 different locations that we are still investigating," Police Chief Lee Donohue said at a 4:30 p.m. press conference. "They may be related as the investigation goes on. We may be able to link them all together, but at this time they are unrelated."
Police arrested the suspect who was found near Punahou School on two counts of suspicion of assaulting a police officer, reckless endangering, robbery and auto theft.
Police arrested the original driver of the truck spotted on Round Top -- a 33-year-old male -- for warrants, driving without a license and driving a vehicle with fraudulent license plates. Police said they did not arrest the second man who got out of the truck on Round Top but were questioning him.
Plainclothes officers kept an eye on the street yesterday as other Honolulu police officers conducted a search of an apartment building behind 1610 Liholiho St. for a stolen truck that had been spotted on Round Top Drive.
