74
Police this weekend arrested a 22-year-old homeless man, whom Manoa residents believe is responsible for a number of harassment incidents beginning in early February, after receiving reports that he was challenging people to a fight in Manoa Valley District Park.
Officers arrested Yama Fazzari, 22, around 7 p.m. Saturday and charged him with harassment, a misdemeanor.
He was scheduled to make his initial District Court appearance Monday afternoon. His bail was set at $1,000.
Police said they were responding to a report of "a disorderly male."
No other people were arrested.
No injuries were reported.
Police confirmed that Fazzari is the person that Manoa Valley Neighborhood Security Watch have been concerned about since early February. Manoa residents have reported a man sleeping in his car on East Manoa Road near the Chinese graveyard and the Manoa Innovation Center on Woodlawn Drive and harassing people.
Members of the Manoa Neighbor Watch released personal details of the suspect including a description of his car as well as photos of the individual on its website.
"It’s a very hot topic and everybody’s concerned," Norman Wong, the coordinator of the Manoa Valley Neighborhood Security Watch told the Star-Advertiser Friday. "People are afraid to walk the area because you don’t know what the guy is doing."
A University of Hawaii Campus Security alert warning students about the suspect described the man as in his late 20s, 5 feet 6 inches tall, with a "buzzed" haircut. Campus Security said the man followed a couple who had given a ride to a female UH student to protect her from the man.
Elaine French, who picked up the UH student, said she noticed the car parked curbside just before the cemetery at about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.
French and her husband, Jerry Smith, made several passes by the gold Camry three times to confirm it was the car believed to be driven by the suspect.
Realizing that the suspect was standing near the car, the couple warned a jogger.
As the couple and the female jogger were driving away, the man tried to cut them off with his car, French said. She called police.
The man followed the couple into Manoa Market place parking lot. Smith drove around the Manoa Marketplace parking lot several times. At one point the couple stopped behind a vehicle and the man got out, yelled at the driver’s side window and banged on the car’s hood, French said.
Just before officers arrived, the man left.
In another incident on Feb. 7, according to the neighborhood watch, the suspect rushed at another man three times on East Manoa Road.
Fazzari’s conviction record includes three petty misdemeanors and misdemeanors for third degree assault, second-degree assault and terroristic threatening as well two violations for disorderly conduct.
