Man charged for 7 traffic accidents

Kauai police charged a 55-year-old Kapaa man who allegedly caused seven traffic accidents that injured three people during a 20-minute drive between Lihue and Kapaa on Friday afternoon, a county news release said.

Randy Melendez was charged with 14 counts, including first-degree criminal property damage, reckless driving, accidents involving damage, accidents involving injuries, and resisting an order to stop. He was held on $21,000 bail.

Police said Melendez drove his Chevy S-10 pickup truck into another truck while turning right onto Kapule Highway near Rice Street at 12:19 p.m.

He continued driving and had six other accidents between Lihue and Kapaa without stopping, the release said. Police ordered Melendez to stop after the seventh accident in Kapaa, but he drove on to his Kapaa home, where he was arrested.

Three people injured in the accidents were treated and released at Wilcox Hospital.

NEIGHBOR ISLANDS

Police say alert from man was fake

Big Island police arrested and charged a 45-year-old Ocean View man for allegedly filing a false police report, according to a police news release.

The arrest of Phillip Luceano Colleoni stems from a call Wednesday of a man with a gun. Responding officers were unable to locate anyone in the area with the description reported.

Officers found the call was made from an area where it was not possible to see the scene described.

Police contacted Colleoni, who initially gave them a false name. Police also said he was responsible for breaking a glass showcase at the Kings Shops in Waikoloa in November and for calling in a bomb threat to a jewelry store on Dec. 11.

Colleoni is being held on $4,000 bail after being charged Thursday with criminal property damage, terroristic threatening and filing a false report.

Arrest linked to UH-Hilo bombs

Big Island police charged a 20-year-old Hilo man Friday with terroristic threatening in connection with explosive devices found on the University of Hawaii-Hilo campus.

Edward Wine was charged Friday and released on his own recognizance before a court appearance on January 20.

Police responded to the campus after an explosion was heard at about 1 a.m. in the residence hall area. Police heard a second explosion and located two other devices tied to a tree. One had exploded, the other had not.

A U.S. Army bomb team was called in to disarm the device.

No injuries were reported.

CENTRAL OAHU

Mob attack leads to arrest of man

Police arrested a 26-year-old Wahiawa man suspected of being one of several males who allegedly mobbed and stomped on the head of a 19-year-old man Thursday night in Wahiawa.

Police responded to a report of a fight at 7:58 p.m. Thursday and found the 19-year-old unconscious on the road.

Police arrested the suspect for investigation of second-degree assault.