Hit-and-run suspect
allegedly drove a
stolen vehicle

Honolulu police said the suspect who is accused of striking former police Chief Michael Nakamura in a hit-and-run collision was allegedly driving a stolen car Wednesday.

The vehicle, a white, two-door Nissan Sentra, was stolen earlier this week in Mililani, police said yesterday.

Nakamura remained in stable condition last night at the Queen's Medical Center with fractures in both lower legs.

Police arrested the 20-year-old Mililani man for suspicion of operating a stolen vehicle, driving without a license and failure to render aid. As of last night, he had not been charged.

Police said the suspect had been traveling in the far right lane of Lanikuhana Avenue near Lanipaa Street sometime after 4:30 p.m. when he allegedly struck Nakamura, who was traveling in a crosswalk on a motorized wheelchair. A witness said the suspect, who was released pending investigation, stopped after the collision but then continued driving down Lanikuhana.

About an hour and a half later, the suspect turned himself in to security at the Town Center of Mililani, which is next to the scene of the collision.

Police later located the car at the Lanipaa Street house of an acquaintance of the suspect and determined that it had been stolen.

Traffic investigators said alcohol was not a factor in the crash but that they are still investigating whether he was speeding.

Nakamura, who served as police chief from 1990 to 1997, has been using a motorized wheelchair to get around since he was diagnosed with a degenerative nerve disease during his last years as chief.