Robbery victim, 85, suffers broken arm and heart attack

A robbery in Haleiwa on Dec. 27 put an 85-year-old visitor from South Carolina in the hospital with a broken arm and is believed to have caused her to have a small heart attack, the woman’s daughter said Monday.

About 6:15 p.m., a man robbed LaVerne Eck of her fanny pack, which contained her wallet, among other things, while she was getting a jacket out of the trunk of her rental car in the parking lot of Aoki’s Shave Ice.

She grabbed hold of the fanny pack but was dragged as the robber started running away with it, said her daughter, Linda Eck. La­Verne Eck lost her grip on the fanny pack and fell, hitting her head, chest, arms and knees, Linda Eck said.

She was taken to Kahuku Medical Center and later transferred to another hospital.

A couple of hours later, police spotted and stopped a vehicle with two men believed to be involved in the robbery.

Dave Medrano, 37, of Wahiawa, the suspected driver of the getaway vehicle, was arrested and charged with second-degree robbery. He was released on $40,000 bail and is scheduled to appear in court at a preliminary hearing today at 1:30 p.m., the Hono­lulu prosecutor’s office said.

The second person, identified by police only as a 26-year-old man, ran away before police could arrest him and remained at large Monday, police said.

Linda Eck, who had been waiting for her mother outside the shave ice shop during the incident, said she saw a third person sitting in the back of the getaway vehicle. Police were unable to confirm that a third person was involved.

LaVerne Eck, of Easley, S.C., came to Hawaii to spend time with her daughter, who works in Japan but owns property in Leeward Oahu.

Linda Eck said her mother required 38 staples in her left hand and a 10-inch plate in her left upper arm. She also said doctors say the fall or stress from the attack and surgery on her mother’s arm contributed to her mother having a small heart attack after her surgery.

"It’s going to be months till her arm heals, and the medical costs will be well over $100,000," she said. "I’m really concerned that this is going to take a huge toll on her life and she’s going to die earlier than she needed to. How much trauma can one body take?"

Eck said her mother already had a host of problems with both arms, including cancer in her right shoulder 38 years ago, and had undergone rotator cuff surgery and a full shoulder replacement for her left arm.

Despite all that, Eck said her mother has always been very independent.

"She drives herself everywhere, flies around the world," she said. "This is really going to make a difference in her life."