A 32-year-old homeless man appeared in Honolulu District Court Friday on charges that he allegedly hit another man with a meat cleaver during a fight Wednesday in a downtown park.
Eldridge Kahoano was charged with second-degree attempted murder and first-degree terroristic threatening. His bail was set at $100,000.
Police said Mark Hunsaker, a former Honolulu police commissioner and deputy sheriff on the mainland, intervened after a man struck a 41-year-old man in the head with the cleaver at Kamamalu Park on Queen Emma Street at about 12:50 p.m. Wednesday.
Police said the suspect grabbed a meat cleaver and told the victim several times that he was going to kill him. When the victim picked up a hammer, the suspect then allegedly struck him. The victim was taken to the Queen’s Medical Center, where he was released in fair condition, police said.
Hunsaker, who was on the Police Commission from 2006 to 2009, works as a Honolulu accountant and as a deputy sheriff in Chautauqua County, Kan.