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Man arrested in hit-and-run involving physician out for walk

Leila Fujimori
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CRIMESTOPPERS

Jeremy Kawika Lee

Police on Monday night arrested a 39-year-old man, identified as the hit-and-run driver of a car that struck and killed a 76-year-old physician who was walking his dog Sept. 30 near the Mokuleia polo field.

Jeremy Kawika Lee was one of two hit-and-run suspects being sought by police and the subject of a CrimeStoppers bulletin issued late Monday morning.

Police are still seeking the identity of the driver of a white, older-model panel van with large windows involved in a critical hit-and-run in the early morning hours following Halloween night in Makiki.

Less than seven hours after a CrimeStoppers bulletin was issued asking for the public’s help in finding the two suspects, police arrested Lee at 6:32 p.m. in the Sand Island area.

Prosecutors charged Lee on Thursday after witnesses identified him in photo lineups as the driver of the white sedan that killed the pedestrian, Dr. Eugene Chin, who died at the scene.

CrimeStoppers and the Honolulu Police Department thanked the public for their help in locating Lee.

CrimeStoppers coordinator Chris Lee urged tipsters Monday afternoon at a news conference to come forward and said any tips made to CrimeStoppers, whether by cellphone, the tips app or its website, are completely anonymous.

In the Thursday hit-and-run, police said the pedestrian, a 27-year-old Makiki man, may have been in a crosswalk at the intersection of Wilder Avenue and Alexander Street.

The van was heading west on Wilder at 3:55 a.m.

Witnesses heard a thud and saw a panel van with large windows stopped in the roadway. The van reversed and fled westbound on Wilder and turned south on Punahou Street, police said.

The man was taken in critical condition to a nearby hospital.

The driver is described as a man between 30 and 40 years old, with a scruffy beard and a dark complexion.

Anyone with information about these cases is urged to call CrimeStoppers at 955-8300 or text *CRIME on a cellphone. Anonymous tips can also be submitted to honolulucrimestoppers.org or via the P3 Tips App.

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