Officer testifies driver ran
over foot, then laughed
Honolulu police officer Domingo Oliveras testified yesterday that a motorist ignored his orders to stop on narrow Liholiho Street on Friday and instead revved his engine and ran over the officer's foot before fleeing.
Fellow officer Kevin Tanita testified he was in the vicinity and heard Oliveras yelling "Stop, police" before he was struck by the same truck.
Both officers said they noticed the driver, later identified as John Gouveia, laughing at them as the truck sped away.
District Judge Faye Koyanagi found yesterday there was probable cause that Gouveia had committed the offenses of two counts of assault against a police officer and auto theft in a separate incident and bound both cases over to Circuit Court.
Prosecutors earlier dropped two robbery charges against Gouveia, pending further investigation.
Gouveia was arrested Friday while hiding in the bushes near Punahou School in connection with a flurry of car thefts, carjackings and police chases in the Makiki-Punahou area that day.
Gouveia, who is being held in lieu of $60,000 bail, will be arraigned in Circuit Court on June 7.