911 calls map escapee’s route

A fastened seat belt may have saved a Voyager Public Charter School mother from being carjacked by an accused murderer as he fled from corrections officers in Kakaako on Feb. 20.

The Honolulu Police Department on Wednesday released 911 recordings that show prisoner Teddy Munet allegedly attempted to steal a car shortly after his escape from a loading dock at the Circuit Court house.

The Voyager driver’s call came in at 8:09:48 a.m, apparently moments after the escape. The woman said she had just dropped off her child and was tied up in traffic attempting to exit the parking lot on Halekauwila Street.

Suddenly the inmate opened her door and tried to yank her out, she said.

"But I was buckled up," she told a police dispatcher. "I, like, honked my horn and then he ran off towards Punchbowl Street."

Later, the woman was able to tell the dispatcher that three corrections officers were pursuing the man, a prison escapee.

"He tried to jack me," the woman is heard telling the dispatcher.

The dispatcher firmly asked the woman to stay in her vehicle for her own safety.

HPD said the day after the incident that several calls came in simultaneously about both the escape and the attempted carjacking.

"Information was being disseminated to sheriffs and Honolulu police during that short time period between the escape and attempted carjacking," Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Toni Schwartz said Wednesday. "Information was just getting out when the carjacking happened moments later. It was fast, so I can’t give a more exact time than that. The info was going out at the same time as the carjacking so it’s understandable that information was starting to come in while the dispatcher was on the call with the woman."

The second 911 conversation, from 7:09:41 p.m., involves a dispatcher and a woman who spotted Munet on Kawaiahao Street near Ward Avenue. Honolulu police officers captured Munet about 10 minutes later on Waimanu Street.

In that recording, the caller appeared certain she had just come into contact with the escapee. Munet’s tattoo may have been his downfall.

"He came up to us and asked us to use our phones," the woman told the dispatcher. "And we kinda thought it was him for a moment, and we looked up his picture again on the Internet and that was him … with a tattoo on his neck. I seen it."

HPD credited the tip for the capture.

An internal investigation into possible misconduct and to determine the circumstances leading up to the escape is ongoing, Schwartz said.

Munet was being transferred from Oahu Community Correctional Center to the courthouse for a hearing when he ran while he and other prisoners were being unloaded in an open dock area behind the building. The prisoners were not shackled.

Public Safety Director Ted Sakai has since ordered corrections officers to place shackles, as well as handcuffs and belly chains, on prisoners during transfers.

Sakai also mandated that prisoners be taken in and out of transport vehicles only within an enclosed area of the building.

The department is also talking to the Judiciary about the possibility of putting a gate at the top of the driveway where Munet escaped.

Meanwhile, the department has put into place a Nixle alert system to notify neighbors of incidents, and is looking into establishing better communications between sheriffs and corrections officers during transports.

The Department of Public Safety is made up of the Corrections and Sheriff divisions. Inmates are the responsibility of corrections officers until they are inside a courthouse, when they are transferred to the custody of sheriffs assigned to the courthouse.

State sheriffs were paid $2,200 in overtime to search for Munet, Schwartz said. HPD reported earlier that it paid out $20,000 in overtime to help find the escapee.

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TRANSCRIPTS OF 911 RECORDINGS

911 Call 1 Transcript:

FEB 20, 2013, 8:09:48 a.m.

(NOTE: HPD says parts of the conversation involving the personal identity of the caller was redacted from this recording.)

Dispatch: Hello. Police.

Caller 1: Hi. Um, I was just attempted a car-jacking on Halekauwila Street. Because there was traffic on Halekauwila, somebody just came up, opened up my door and tried to pull me out. But I was buckled up and … there’s a lot of witnesses and I, like, honked my horn and then he ran off towards Punchbowl Street. (Heavy breathing.)

D: What is the suspect wearing?

C: I’m sorry?

D: What is he wearing?

C: He’s wearing, um, black shorts and a black sweater. Local male … maybe about five-ten, slim, short-cut hair.

D: You said he’s about five-ten?

C: Yeah, he ran off towards Punchbowl Street. And he tried to pull me out of my car.

D: And you said towards Punchbowl, yeah?

C: Yeah.

D: OK, please stay on the line, OK?

C: OK.

(Pause)

D: OK, you were stopped at the light?

C: No, I’m stopped at, um …

D: No, no, no, you WERE stopped at the light?

C: No, I’m in a driveway and I’m still here.

D: No, but what just happened, you were stopped at the light?

C: No, I was stopped at the driveway waiting to turn right? I think I see security running after him too.

(Pause)

D: Do you need an ambulance?

C: No.

(Pause)

D: OK, and you said security is following him?

C: It looks like two gray, I dunno if they’re sheriffs or something but they came from behind also. And they’re looking around, and they just jogged up towards Punchbowl.

D: OK, but you’re not sure if they’re sheriffs, though?

C: No, there’s one more coming, though. Um …

D: In a grey shirt? Does it look like it has any kind of symbol, or anything like that?

C: Oh, yeah it’s the kind … Oh, it’s PSD.

D: PSD?

C: Yeah. Excuse me, sir, where are you guys from? Where are you from? I’m on the line with, uh, HPD right now. O-triple-cee. Oh, he’s a … I think he’s …

D: Is that an escapee? Try ask him.

C: I think so. Excuse me, is that an escapee? He tried to jack me. (Pause) He went down … he’s wearing all black and tennis… Yeah, yeah.

D: Is that an escapee?

C: Yup. Yeah.

D: It’s an escapee?

C: Yeah, so I was coming from Reed Lane onto Halekauwila and that’s where the … can I call …

D: Is that the Sheriffs? Can I speak to him?

C: Um, they’re running up the street already.

D: Oh, they’re running up the street?

C: Yeah, the two that ran after him and then the one that one, um, the one that I talked to, he’s almost to the corner.

D: Stay right there, because I’ve got officers coming to you, yeah? Regular HPD, they’ll be marked in HPD uniforms coming to you.

C: OK, I’m going to go around the block and go back into the parking lot because I’m blocking the driveway.

D: Yeah …

C: I’m in a blue, I’m in a blue van.

D: Stay right there, ma’am. Stay right there. That’s where I’m getting the officers to come to you, OK? I don’t want you to get into any more danger. Did they say if was more than just one person?

C: No, it was one, and he came from behind, from the Reed Lane direction and pulled me out, tried to pull me out of my car. So I think he escaped and was trying to steal a car. Um, but there are witnesses. But they’re all gone.

D: OK. Stay right there, ma’am. We don’t want you to go anywhere else where you can put yourself into danger. Especially if sheriffs is in pursuit of this suspect, yeah?

C: OK, can I, um …

D: Just stay on the line a seconed, OK? I’m trying to update the officers with what’s going on, OK?

(BREAK IN RECORDING)

D: OK, I’m updating them that’s where you’re at now, OK?

C: OK.

D: OK. Bye-bye.

C: Thanks.

911 Call 2 Transcript

Feb. 20, 2013, 7:09:41 p.m.

Dispatch: Police, can I help you?

Caller 2: Hi, I just seen that guy on the news … about the escapee.

D: From the Circuit Court today?

C: Uh-huh. He’s on Kawaiahao Street. He’s walking. He has a black, long-sleeve shirt on. An Ecko.

D: He has a black hoodie on?

C: Not hoodie. Long-sleeve shirt. And it’s an Ecko brand. And he’s wearing black shorts.

D: Kawaiahao and where?

C: Kawaiahao Street.

D: What’s the nearest intersection?

C: The nearest intersection to here where he was walking towards is gonna be Ward Avenue. (pause) Hello?

D: OK, he’s on Kawaiahao going in which direction?

C: Going towards Ward Avenue, that’s the next intersection he’s about to hit. But he’s probably not going to be walking on the main street ….

D: OK, so he’s going makai-bound?

C: Cuz  I don’t see him already.

D: He’s going makai- or mauka-bound?

C: Uhh … makai-bound.

D: OK, what’s suspicious about him, or what makes you think it’s him?

C: Uhh … he came up to us and asked us to use our phones. And we kinda thought it was him for a moment, and we looked up his picture again on the Internet and that was him … with a tattoo on his neck, I seen it.

D: He has a tattoo of a skull on his neck?

C: On his neck, yes.

D: OK.

C: He’s about maybe five-three or so, kinda skinny, I dunno, I dunno about how many pounds.

D: OK, and he has, he’s wearing black shorts, you said?

C: Jean shorts.

D: Jean shorts.

C: And black shoes.

D: Jean shorts and black shoes.

C: With a black, long sleeve shirt, Ecko brand. That is him. I looked at his picture again, and that’s him.

D: Oh OK, we’ll send someone.

C: OK, thank you.

D: Thank you. Bye.

C: Bye.

D: Kawaiahao and Ward. Wow.