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Road melee ends
in gunfire by HPD
A suspect, 18, is shot after allegedly
injuring 3 police officers
A police officer shot an 18-year-old man in the stomach on a busy Pearl City roadway yesterday morning after the suspect allegedly rammed a stolen car into three vehicles as he tried to avoid capture.
Four other people were injured in the pursuit, including three officers and a passenger in the stolen vehicle. The officers had minor injuries.
The suspect was listed in critical condition at the Queen's Medical Center last night, and his 24-year-old male passenger was arrested on suspicion of theft and outstanding warrants after he was treated and released from the hospital.
The ordeal started at about 10:50 a.m. when Kunia resident Randon Pascua heard a loud car engine outside his Kupuna Loop home. He ran out in his boxers to discover his modified, white 1994 Honda Civic Coupe missing from his carport.
"I was kind of shocked," said Pascua.
Five minutes after Pascua reported his car stolen, his friend B.J. Mata called him after seeing Pascua's car as Mata stood in front of Cutter Dodge in Waipahu, where he works as a salesman.
Pascua recalls Mata told him, "I'm looking at your car right now!"
Mata and his friend Dwayne Manaku jumped into a car and followed the suspect throughout Waipahu. Meanwhile, Manaku called police and told them where the suspect was heading.
"It was like a live feed. He was tracking the car for us," said Assistant Chief Robert Prasser.
Mata said the suspect realized he was being followed when they both pulled into the parking lot of Times Super Market on Farrington Highway.
"By that time they were on to us, so they dug out real fast," said Mata.
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Plainclothes officers from the Crime Reduction Unit soon caught up with the suspect and his passenger.
Officers forced them over to the curb as they were traveling Honolulu-bound on Kamehameha Highway in Pearl City near the Public Storage building. Prasser said the officers got out of their van and identified themselves.
But the suspect rammed into the officers' van and reversed quickly, striking a white Honda in the right lane driven by a woman, police said.
Prasser said the suspect then drove toward the officers and stopped short of striking a black pickup truck. Plainclothes officers in a second van and other officers surrounded the suspect and ordered him to get out of the vehicle.
But the suspect reversed and ran over an officer's foot, knocked over another officer and brushed a third officer with the vehicle while two officers jumped out of the way, police said.
At that point an officer fired one shot at the vehicle, striking the suspect in the stomach. The 18-year-old continued to try to escape, police said, striking another vehicle before heading westbound in the right Honolulu-bound lane.
The suspect's vehicle collided head-on with a police car.
The officer who shot the suspect was placed on administrative leave, which is HPD procedure when an officer fires his weapon.
The three injured officers were taken to an undisclosed hospital for treatment of minor injuries.
Prasser commended the officers for apprehending the suspect.
"Generally, in a busy place like this, I think it could've been a lot worse," said Prasser.
The suspect faces charges of multiple counts of first-degree attempted murder, first-degree criminal property damage, driving without a license and auto theft.
This is the second time within the last year that Pascua's car was stolen. Ten months ago, his car was stolen from his carport and later found near the Pagoda Restaurant.
