Man shot in police encounter
POSTED: Monday, November 23, 2009
Police yesterday shot a 29-year-old man who allegedly drove away while dragging a police officer during what had been a routine call in Kakaako.
Honolulu police Maj. Clayton Kau said the incident began at 11:19 a.m. on Cooke Street when police received an anonymous report about a suspicious man in a car near Kapiolani Boulevard.
The first officer on the scene found the man sleeping in the car with the engine running. The officer woke the man up and asked him to turn off his engine, Kau said. The man complied and the officer walked behind the car as a second officer asked the man to take the keys out of the ignition.
Police say the suspect is in the hospital awaiting arrest for attempted murder.
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When the suspect re-started the car, the second officer reached into the car to stop the man, but he drove away, dragging the officer until he fell away, Kau said.
The officer in back of the car fired three shots, hitting the passenger window, the rear windshield and the trunk.
The officers got into their cars and pursued the man, but lost him on King Street.
Anou Sithammalat, a hair dresser at Salon Reve on Cooke Street, saw what happened.
He said the man had been sleeping in the car with the lights on since 9:30 in the morning.
“;I was actually really scared because we didn't know if the suspect was going to be shooting in our direction,”; he said. “;It was pretty loud and shook everybody up here in the salon.”;
About half an hour later, police found the car abandoned near the intersection of Lanakila Avenue and School Street.
A resident said she saw police looking at a bloody sweatshirt on the pavement, near an apartment building on Io Lane.
Kau said the car is registered to an owner in Wahiawa, but it wasn't clear if the car was stolen.
The suspect was located after he went to Kapiolani Medical Center at Pali Momi at 1 p.m. for treatment of a single gunshot wound, Kau said.
Police have identified the man and will arrest him when he is released from the hospital, Kau said.
The man was transferred to an unidentified hospital after his condition stabilized, Kau said, and is reported in good condition. He declined to release any other information on the man's injuries.
The 23-year-old officer who fired the three shots has been an officer for more than a year, Kau said. He was placed on administrative leave while Internal Affairs investigates, which is standard procedure after a weapon is discharged.
The other officer suffered a bruise on his right forearm and declined to go to the hospital, Kau said.