Backhoe accident kills worker

A Mililani Memorial Park worker died yesterday morning when the backhoe he was operating overturned, pinning him to the ground, a Honolulu Fire Department spokesman said.

Firefighters were called to the cemetery at 94-560 Kamehameha Highway at 7:52 a.m.

Fire Capt. Earle Kealoha said the man was working a slope when the backhoe overturned.

"We are devastated by the accident, and our prayers go to his family," said Eadean Buffington, vice president of Mililani Memorial Park & Mortuary. "We are investigating the circumstances to find out what happened this morning."

Buffington said the employee was working alone, clearing a private area of the cemetery. He was pronounced dead at 8:30 a.m.

Neighbors nab alleged Kailua thief

A group of neighbors chased down and captured a 23-year-old man who allegedly broke into a Kailua home Sunday afternoon, Kailua police said.

A woman heard a burglar alarm go off at a 40-year-old neighbor’s home at about 12:30 p.m. and alerted other neighbors, Kailua police said.

They noticed a window screen ajar and confronted a 23-year-old Kaneohe man on the property. The man fled and the neighbors ran after him, police said.

They captured and held him until police arrived and arrested the suspect on Kaapuni Drive at 1 p.m.

Shooting suspect appears in court

A 36-year-old man made his initial appearance in court yesterday in connection with a shooting on Kapiolani Boulevard on Friday night.

Prosecutors charged Reynaldo Valdes-Paz with attempted murder Sunday night for allegedly shooting another man three times in a parking lot next to Century Center at about 6 p.m. Friday.

Valdes-Paz was in police custody Sunday night with bail set at $300,000. He turned himself in at the Pearl City Police Station on Friday night.

The victim was taken to the hospital in critical condition but improved to serious condition, a spokesman for the city Emergency Services Department said.

Witnesses said the shooting happened after an argument between the two men over a woman.

Girlfriend arrested in man’s stabbing

Police arrested a 21-year-old Waimanalo woman on suspicion of attempted murder in the stabbing of her boyfriend Sunday morning.

Police said an argument between the couple escalated, and the suspect allegedly stabbed a 21-year-old man Sunday morning on Oluolu Street in Waimanalo at about 8:30 a.m.

Paramedics took the man to the hospital in critical condition, an Emergency Services Department spokesman said.

The woman was arrested at about 9 a.m. yesterday at a home nearby.

Police pursuit, crash close Pali lanes

A police chase of a stolen vehicle ended in a four-vehicle crash on Pali Highway in Nuuanu last night, shutting down the town-bound lanes of the highway.

Police arrested a 24-year-old man for suspicion of unauthorized control of a stolen vehicle.

Two police officers in separate vehicles were pursuing a stolen vehicle in Kailua; the chase proceeded to Pali Highway, said Honolulu Police Department spokeswoman Maj. Janna Mizuo. Kaneohe police said a police lieutenant tried to make a traffic stop in the Kailua area when the suspect fled. An officer in a separate vehicle joined the pursuit. Police said the two police vehicles, the stolen vehicle and another vehicle were involved in the crash on Pali Highway at Country Club Road.

Police shut down the town-bound lanes of Pali Highway from Castle Junction to just below Country Club Road shortly after 8 last night.

No one was seriously injured in the crash.

Woman gets jail time for biting officer

WAILUKU » A Molokai woman who bit a police officer has been sentenced to five years in prison.

The Maui News reports Circuit Judge Joel August also ordered Kiana Kalima to serve at least one year and eight months before being eligible for parole, because she is a repeat offender.

Kalima, 32, has already spent nearly a year behind bars. She has pleaded no contest to first-degree assault on a law enforcement officer, third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug and possessing drug paraphernalia.

According to court records, Sgt. Jamie Winfrey was bitten on her left hand as she tried to search Kalima. During the search, a coin purse containing a pipe with crystal methamphetamine residue fell out of Kalima’s clothes.

Slain driver identified in Milolii crash

Big Island police identified the pickup truck driver killed Sunday in a head-on crash with a tour bus near Milolii in South Kona.

Police said Bud M. Wheeler of Captain Cook died from injuries received in the crash on the Hawaii Belt Road. Police said Wheeler’s 2006 Toyota pickup truck overtook another vehicle while traveling north in a no-passing zone and collided with a 2005 Van Hool tour bus traveling south at about 9 a.m.

The bus driver, a 52-year-old Kailua-Kona man, and 10 passengers were taken to Kona Community Hospital, treated and released with minor injuries.

Wheeler was pronounced dead at the hospital at 1:45 p.m.

Police ask anyone with information to call officer Larry Flowers at 326-4646, ext. 229.

This is the 23rd traffic fatality on the Big Island this year compared with 19 at this time last year.