LEEWARD OAHU

Cooking caused home fire in Maili

Fire investigators determined that unattended cooking caused a fire that destroyed a single-family home in Maili on Tuesday and left a family of six homeless, a Honolulu Fire Department spokesman said.

Six fire companies responded to the fire at 87-908 Hookele Place at 2:35 p.m. and extinguished the fire by 3 p.m. The fire caused $250,000 in damage, Honolulu Fire Capt. Terry Seelig said in an e-mail.

Three of the four children were home at the time, and no one was injured. Two adults also lived at the house. The Red Cross was helping the displaced residents.

Man arrested in phone incident

Police arrested a 45-year-old homeless man after he allegedly entered a vehicle and broke a woman's cell phone.

Police said that at about 5:50 p.m. yesterday, the suspect went into a 22-year-old man's car along Farrington Highway in Waianae and grabbed a purse from his passenger, a 42-year-old woman.

Police said the suspect took the woman's cell phone from the purse and smashed it on the ground. Police arrested the homeless man on suspicion of first-degree unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle.

NEIGHBOR ISLANDS

4 people charged in 'ice' trafficking

Four people were arrested Monday in connection with trafficking crystal methamphetamine, or “;ice,”; in Puna on the Big Island.

Police charged three people with first-degree methamphetamine trafficking and other drug offenses: Ruel Castro, 34, of Keaau; Christopher Saribay, 29, of Hilo; and Diane Blanco, 29, of Keaau. Castro was being held in lieu of $18,000 bail. Saribay and Blanco bailed out.

Police said on Monday that after a police dog alerted officers of drugs in a vehicle the three people were in, vice officers found 41 grams of ice worth $8,000.

In the same area, a police dog also raised an alarm about 40-year-old Wendell Olivera's vehicle. Police found 2.5 grams of ice, a shotgun and a semiautomatic handgun.

Olivera, a convicted felon, was arrested and charged with several firearm and drug offenses.

He was being held at the Hilo cellblock in lieu of $40,000 bail.

Maui man is hurt in 4-car collision

A man in his 30s was critically injured yesterday in a four-vehicle collision on Honoapiilani Highway in Maui, police there said.

Just before noon a car heading north on the highway crossed the center line near Ukumehame and slammed head-on into the victim's car, said Maui police Sgt. Dennis Lee.

The crash caused the second car to hit two other vehicles heading south. Seven people were in the accident, but only one was hurt, Lee said.

Paramedics took the driver of the car that was hit head-on to Maui Memorial Hospital in critical condition.

Police shut down the highway for about 21/2 hours to investigate.