Driver charged after
police chase

The 18-year-old Waipahu man shot by police after allegedly ramming at least three vehicles and injuring three officers with a stolen car in Pearl City last week was charged with seven counts of attempted murder yesterday.

Thomas Wesley Greene was arrested Wednesday after his release from Queen's Medical Center, where he was recovering from gunshot wounds to the abdomen.

Greene was also charged yesterday with auto theft, first-degree criminal property damage, driving without a valid driver's license and drug offenses.

He made his initial appearance in court yesterday.

Police recovered a fanny pack Greene wore and found illicit drugs and drug paraphernalia inside, a police affidavit states.

Greene and his half-brother Randy Garcia were riding in a car stolen from a house in Village Park, where the two men lived with their family.

The owner's friend spotted the car and followed it through Waipahu. Police officers caught up with the car heading toward Pearl City on Waipahu Street, the affidavit said.

Police tried to stop the car on Kamehameha Highway near Acacia Road about 11:15 a.m., and police vehicles blocked the car in the extreme-right bus lane.

An officer got out and ran to the stolen vehicle, which reversed at a high speed and struck the curb, police said.

The car then sped forward and rammed into a police van as officers got out, police said. The car then reversed at a high rate of speed, made a "J" turn and blocked vehicles again.

Officers surrounded the car, and Greene then allegedly drove forward and struck three officers and went westbound against traffic in the Honolulu-bound lanes of the highway. An officer fired one shot and struck Greene in the stomach.

The car crashed head-on with a marked police car.

Greene was taken to Queen's Medical Center in critical condition.

Garcia was arrested and charged with drug offenses.