HAWAI'I BRIEFS
Suspect sought in stabbing death
Advertiser Staff
Police last night were searching for a man in connection with the stabbing death of another man outside two busy downtown stores yesterday.
The incident occurred shortly after 2 p.m. at Hotel and Bishop streets near the Longs Drug Store and Ross Store. Police said the victim and suspect fought briefly before the victim was stabbed.
The man, 21, was taken to The Queen's Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. Police said the suspect, a middle-aged man, was last seen walking from the scene with a woman.
The incident occurred in an area that is typically crowded with workers, college students, shoppers and people waiting to catch the bus.
CONCERT WILL BENEFIT SCHOOL
A concert to benefit the Hawaiian-language preschool Punana Leo O Honolulu will be held at 5 p.m. today at the Ocean Nightclub in Restaurant Row.
Performers include the Makaha Sons, Keawe Lopes and Friends and Halau Hula O Kawaili'ula. A raffle will include a round-trip ticket to Las Vegas and other prizes.
Tickets are $15 at the door.
WINDWARD
BUS DRIVER ATTACK ON CHILD ALLEGED
The state Department of Education is investigating allegations made by a parent that her son, a pupil at Ka'a'awa Elementary School, was assaulted by a bus driver and his aide, said Greg Knudsen, DOE spokesman.
DOE officials also are requesting that the private bus company Kailua Local open its own investigation of the alleged incidents, which the parent said occurred last week, Knudsen said yesterday.
Knudsen said the aide is no longer with the company.
Bus company officials were not available for comment last night.
WAI'ANAE
GRANT WILL HELP BUILD DRUG CENTER
The University of Hawai'i-West O'ahu, in partnership with the Wai'anae Coast Comprehensive Health Center and Malama Recovery Program, has received a grant totaling $471,600 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to build a new drug rehabilitation center to serve the community.
The 2,040-square-foot facility will be on the grounds of Wai'anae Comprehensive and will cost about $537,943.
Richard Bettini, chief executive officer of Wai'anae Comprehensive, praised the partnership and said the community is in "desperate need" of additional rehabilitation centers.
LEEWARD
QUICK RESPONSE LEADS TO ARREST
Quick work by radio listeners and police rapidly ended a stolen-truck incident Monday afternoon.
Police said the truck's owner, a 37-year-old man, parked at a Nanakuli beach park to go paddling.
When he returned, the truck was missing, and he called police and a radio station to report the theft.
Police said an anonymous person saw the truck being driven in the Leeward Coast area and called the radio station, which notified police.
Officers caught up with the truck minutes later and arrested the driver, a 37-year-old woman, on suspicion of unauthorized control of a vehicle.
KAILUA
TRUCK CRASH KILLS KAILUA MAN, 39
A 39-year-old Kailua man was killed yesterday morning when his pickup truck ran off Maluniu Avenue in Kailua.
Traffic investigators said the driver, identified by the city medical examiner as Antonio Ruiz, was headed north on Maluniu Avenue near Hualani Street about 1:10 a.m. when his 1997 Chevrolet truck veered to the right, hit several trash cans, ran into a utility pole and hit two barrier walls before coming to rest. The driver was ejected from the truck, investigators said.
Police said speeding may have been a factor.
Ruiz was taken to Castle Medical Center, where he died shortly afterward. The death brought the traffic toll on O'ahu to 72, compared with 65 for the same period last year.
STATEWIDE
JUDICIARY SEEKS MORE TRANSLATORS
Attention, speakers of Chuukese, Marshallese, Pohnpeian, Laotian and other Indo-Pacific languages: The state judiciary wants to put you and your language skills to work.
The judiciary is recruiting fluent speakers of those languages, as well as several others, as interpreters to assist people who are unable to hear, understand, speak or use English sufficiently to effectively participate in court proceedings.
According to the judiciary's Office on Equality and Access to the Courts — which recruits, registers, educates and tests interpreters — there is a particular need to help people from Polynesia, Micronesia, the Philippines and Vietnam, as well as those who use American Sign Language or ASL. The need for interpreters is especially great on the Neighbor Islands.
Additional information on the court interpreting program, including a schedule for testing, is available online or by calling 539-4860.
KAUA'I
UTILITY WORKER ELECTROCUTED
LIHU'E, Kaua'i — A 63-year-old utility worker was killed in an apparent accidental electrocution yesterday.
Police said the man was working on power lines in an area inland from Kekaha in west Kaua'i. His name was being withheld until his family could be notified.
HONOKAI HALE
FUGITIVE NABBED AFTER 4-HOUR HUNT
Police and federal agents arrested a fugitive in Honokai Hale yesterday after a four-hour hunt and a house-to-house search.
U.S. marshals with the Hawai'i Fugitive Task Force went after the man after receiving a tip that he was at Tracks Beach, talking to his girlfriend, around 9:30 a.m. yesterday, police said.
The man was wanted on drug and firearm charges, police said.
Before agents could arrest him, he fled on foot and was spotted later driving a car into the Honokai Hale neighborhood.
Officers with the Honolulu Police Department specialized services division were deployed at 10:30 a.m. to help with the search, said Capt. Frank Fujii. Police began going house to house and eventually found the man hiding in a tool shed.
