POLICE BEAT
First fatal crash of '06 claims man
Advertiser Staff
Honolulu experienced its first fatal car accident of 2006 shortly after 2 a.m. yesterday.
A 21-year-old Wai'anae man was killed and a 24-year-old Wai'anae man was injured.
Police said the 21-year-old was driving a 2002 Chevy pickup truck west on the H-1 Freeway when he lost control near the Campbell Industrial Park exit.
The pickup drifted right and went through the right guardrail and onto a grassy area, police said. The truck struck a sign, a light pole and a larger sign before coming to a halt.
The driver was dead at the scene, police said. The 24-year-old passenger was taken to The Queen's Medical Center in critical condition.
Both men had been wearing their seat belts. Traffic was light and the weather was clear.
Police had not determined if speed or alcohol were factors.
ESCAPEE SOUGHT ON BIG ISLAND
Police on the Big Island are asking the public to help them find a 25-year-old man who escaped from the Hale Nani Correctional Facility in Hilo on April 4, 2005.
Abraham Verece, who last listed a Waimea home address, is 5 feet 9, 185 pounds and has brown hair and brown eyes. He has tattoos on his back, arms and neck.
Police ask anyone with information to call Detective Thomas Waltjen at (808) 961-2386, or call the police nonemergency number at (808) 935-3311. Those who wish to remain anonymous may call CrimeStoppers at (808) 961-8300 in Hilo or (808) 329-8181 in Kona. All CrimeStoppers information is kept strictly confidential.
MAN SUSPECTED OF ROBBING GRANDPA
Police arrested a 28-year-old Kailua man yesterday on allegations that he robbed his grandfather on Christmas Day. Jarvis Higa was being held pending $100,000 bond.
His grandfather, 80, told police on Dec. 25 that Higa came to his Kailua home and threatened to injure him if he did not give him money. Higa is charged with robbery.
POLICE LINK TEEN TO STORE ROBBERY
Big Island police have arrested a youth they suspect of robbing the "5-Spice" food shop in the Puainako Town Center in March.
On March 18, a man wearing a hooded sweatshirt walked into the store, displayed a handgun and demanded money. The robber grabbed money from the cash register and fled on foot with an undisclosed amount of cash.
No one was injured.
Detectives interviewed a 17-year-old boy in connection with the robbery and other unrelated crimes, then arrested him on an outstanding warrant issued after he fled a juvenile facility on Maui.
They turned the youth over to deputies from the Department of Safety, who took him to a juvenile detention facility on O'ahu.
