A 47-year-old Hilo man was charged yesterday with first-degree attempted murder after police said he tried to run over a Hawaii County police officer trying to arrest him.

Valentin Solis also was charged with first-degree criminal property damage, first-degree assault on a police officer, two counts of first-degree terroristic threatening, resisting an order to stop, and reckless driving. He remained in police custody last night on $250,000 bail.

If convicted of first-degree attempted murder, Solis would face a mandatory term of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Police said the incident began shortly before 6 p.m. when two plainclothes police officers confronted Solis in the parking lot of the Prince Kuhio Mall in connection with a separate investigation. When Solis saw the officers, police said, he fled in his vehicle, nearly running over one of the officers.

Officers pursued Solis onto Highway 11 in the Volcano direction and at one point he rammed a police vehicle that was ahead of him, police said. Solis' car also struck another vehicle and a guardrail before coming to a stop in the bushy median of the highway where he was arrested, police said.

No one was seriously injured, police said.