Vesper unrepentant,
police say

He would run over an officer
again if he had to, prosecutors say

A man accused of attempting to run over a police officer with a stolen van said if he had to do it over again, he would, according to prosecutors.

The statement was made by Daniel Vesper III, 43, after he was arrested Friday in Kalihi, a day after Officer Jeffrey Omai was struck by a stolen van allegedly driven by Vesper in the parking lot of Honolulu Community College, prosecutors said.

Omai sustained life-threatening injuries, and doctors believe he is at high risk of suffering permanent brain damage, prosecutors said.

Vesper was indicted yesterday by an Oahu grand jury with first-degree attempted murder, possession of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia, first- and second-degree robbery, and auto theft stemming from three separate incidents last Thursday. He was also indicted for car theft and criminal property damage stemming from two incidents on Nov. 20.

According to police, Vesper robbed a van from a newspaper delivery woman last Thursday. He drove to the University of Hawaii-Manoa area, where he threatened a mo-ped rider with a bat and took his mo-ped -- but it fell out of the van when he drove away.

Police later spotted him in the parking lot of Honolulu Community College, where he allegedly accelerated toward Omai, running him over. He fled, leading police on a chase, but eluded them after abandoning the van near Punahou School. He was captured the next day near Umi Street in Kalihi.

In the Nov. 20 cases, Vesper is charged with ramming a stolen Honda against a metal gate and parked vehicle in the driveway of a Robello Lane apartment building while attempting to leave. He had allegedly stolen the Honda five days earlier from a stalled motorist he had assisted.

According to a police affidavit, Bernadette Tang, the manager of the apartment building, had blocked him in with her car because she did not recognize Vesper as a tenant. She also wanted to check out the bicycle in the trunk of his Honda because there had been bikes stolen in the area recently.

When told police were being called, Vesper revved the engine of his car, reversed, then pulled forward repeatedly before slamming into the gate of an adjacent business owned by the Tangs, damaging a gate.

When Vesper's car struck the gate, it caused Tang, who was standing next to the gate, to fall because she was trying to get out of his way, police said.

Vesper reversed again and struck Tang's car, pushing it into a parked car, police said. But Vesper's car stalled when he attempted to drive between Tang's car and a cement planter box, so he climbed out of the car and fled, according to police.

Vesper is being held in lieu of $1 million bail in last Thursday's cases and $100,000 in the Nov. 20 cases. He is currently on five years' probation for stealing a car and resisting an order to stop.

According to an affidavit by Vesper's probation officer, Vesper was sentenced April 12 but has since violated several terms of his probation.