StarBulletin.com

Driver shot by officer


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POSTED: Wednesday, December 24, 2008

A man wanted for a parole violation was in stable condition yesterday after being shot in the shoulder by a Honolulu police officer whom he allegedly tried to run over following a car chase near Ala Moana Center, according to police and witnesses.

 

;[Preview] HPD Officer Shoots Suspect In Ala Moana Area
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The police say the man was wanted for parole violations, he was shot by an HPD officer after the man rammed a police car and two other vehicles.

 

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  Police recognized the 30-year-old man as he was driving a black Honda Civic about 10:36 a.m. at the mall - crowded with shoppers two days before Christmas - and later spotted him near Kapiolani Boulevard and Piikoi Street.

The chase stopped when the man reached a dead end on Cedar Street and hit two vehicles and the police officer's car before the officer fired one shot when the man refused to stop and tried to run him down, said police spokesman Maj. Frank Fujii.

Police are conducting an internal investigation of the incident. The officer, a seven-year veteran assigned to downtown Honolulu, was not injured.

“;The police officer just told him, 'Out of the car,'”; said Edison Chen, owner of Ace Auto on Sheridan Street across from the Keeaumoku Street Wal-Mart. “;The police officer had no other choice, so he shot.”;

Chen said the fugitive slammed the police car as many as four times and refused to stop before being shot.

“;He started swearing, refusing to stop. I heard a gunshot,”; said John Saramosing, 20, a delivery worker for Hakuyosha Royal, a dry-cleaning store whose back entrance is on Cedar Street. “;There is no way out of here.”;

Saramosing said there was a woman in the passenger seat of the car, but Fujii said he was not aware of that.

The man, who was at the Queen's Medical Center yesterday, is being investigated for first-degree attempted murder and first-degree criminal property damage, Fujii said.

Police closed portions of Cedar and Rycroft streets for more than one hour yesterday to investigate the incident.