Man sought in Big Isle traffic fracas

Big Island police are asking for the public’s help to find an 18-year-old man who allegedly sideswiped another car with his vehicle last week in Puna.

Ronsten Andrade was the driver of a Mitsubishi sedan that pulled alongside a Honda Civic on Kahakai Boulevard in the Hawaiian Beaches subdivision while both cars were in motion last Friday, police said.

The passenger reached out and smashed the window of the Civic with a metal pipe; then the Mitsubishi swerved and sideswiped the Civic, causing damage to both cars, police said.

Police arrested the 19-year-old passenger Wednesday. Kahee Manuwai of Pahoa was charged with two counts of felony criminal property damage, and his bail was set at $7,000, police said.

Andrade is described as 6 feet tall and 190 pounds, with a medium build and brown eyes and hair. He is also wanted for three bench warrants stemming from a car theft case.

The public is advised to use extreme caution around Andrade, and to not attempt to detain him, police said.

Asleep driver caught with stolen gun

Police arrested a 28-year-old man in Manoa while assisting him Wednesday morning and finding a gun reported stolen 15 years ago.

Police and emergency crews were called to the Ventura Street-Manoa Road intersection at 6:50 a.m. because a car with a man slumped over the steering wheel was blocking the road.

The man was awakened and he refused medical treatment. When an officer went to help the motorist, he felt a handgun in a holster strapped to the man’s right hip.

Police learned later that the gun had been stolen in 1995. The man, of a Manoa address, was arrested on suspicion of first-degree theft and improper possession of a firearm. He was released pending investigation.

Man caught 1 week after prison escape

Sheriff’s deputies on the Big Island apprehended a 39-year-old man yesterday who escaped from the Hawaii Community Correctional Center’s minimum-security facility Aug. 17.

Nathan Kealii Apolo had completed a furlough program when he walked away from the Hale Nani minimum-security facility.

Deputy sheriffs, working on a tip, staked out the grounds surrounding the Hilo courthouse and arrested Apolo without incident at 8:50 yesterday morning while he sat in his car.