Hawaii County police have arrested and charged a Keaau man for allegedly injuring a police officer who was trying to make a traffic stop early Monday in Hilo.
Shortly after midnight Sunday, a sedan struck a police vehicle in the “Isles” parking lot off Lihiwai Street in Hilo after officers were trying to stop the sedan, and the driver fled on foot, police said.
One of the officers was treated and released for substantial, but not life-threatening, injuries at Hilo Medical Center.
At 3 p.m. Monday, officers went to a Hilo house to arrest a suspect in the traffic stop incident. They arrested 20-year-old Draven Torres-Souza of Keaau on unrelated outstanding warrants.
Torres-Souza was charged with failure to appear, contempt of court and violating terms of release on bail. He appeared in court Tuesday and was taken to the Hawaii Community Correctional Center.
Detectives later determined Torres-Souza was the suspect in the traffic stop incident, police said.
He was charged Tuesday with resisting an order to stop, first-degree criminal property damage, driving without a license, leaving the scene of an accident involving substantial bodily injury and assaulting a police officer. His bail was set at $67,000.
A Hilo man was also arrested and charged for allegedly trying to stop an officer from arresting Torres-Souza on Monday. Joshua Domen, 22, of Hilo was charged Tuesday with first-degree hindering prosecution. His bail was set at $2,000.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Maui collision kills 2 visitors
Two visitors were killed in a hit-and-run crash Monday in Kahului, and a Haiku man was arrested in the case on suspicion of negligent homicide, Maui police said Wednesday.
Police identified the victims as 16-year-old Noah Joshua Chapman of Boise, Idaho, and 72-year-old Ronald John Dean of Auburn, Wash.
Chapman was a back-seat passenger of a four-door Ford Taurus sedan driven by Dean. They both died at the scene.
Police said a Ford F-150 pickup truck was traveling east on Hana Highway and collided with the Taurus at 8:49 p.m. Monday.
The Taurus was turning left from a designated left-turn lane on Hana Highway onto Hookele Street when the collision occurred, police said.
The 36-year-old male driver, a Haiku resident, allegedly attempted to flee the scene on foot after the crash but was caught by responding officers, who were nearby.
Two other passengers in the Taurus, a 14-year-old boy and a 69-year-old woman, were taken to Maui Memorial Medical Center in critical condition. They were upgraded to stable condition.
Police arrested the Haiku man on suspicion of two counts of first-degree negligent homicide and two counts of first-degree negligent injury.
He was later released.
Pahoa house fire caused by stove
Hawaii County fire officials say an unattended stove caused a $60,000 house fire Wednesday in Pahoa.
Firefighters responding to the first alarm at 1:59 p.m. and found the 1,360-square-foot home in the Ainaloa subdivision between 30 and 50 percent engulfed in flames, the Fire Department said.
