Suspect arrested in police car theft

Honolulu police arrested a 38-year-old man in Waiahole, ending an intense manhunt after he allegedly stole a police subsidized vehicle in Kaimuki and led police on a chase across the island.

Police arrested Jaya Titcomb at 10:10 a.m. Tuesday on suspicion of first-degree attempted murder, auto theft and first-degree theft. Titcomb was arrested near the Waiahole Poi Factory after a neighbor recognized him and called 911.

Honolulu Police Chief Susan Ballard said he was taken to a hospital for gunshot injuries to his left shoulder.

Ballard commented on the seriousness of the crime.

“We are seeing a lot more of these brazen type of acts in the community,” she said. “What we’re seeing on the island now is very frightening. It’s something that we’ve never seen before. The officers now, as well as the public, (are) going to have to be so much more careful.”

Police responded to a call of a suspicious man near 10th Avenue at about 6:15 a.m. Monday. Officers detained the man but before arresting him allowed him to use the bathroom.

Instead he jumped into a police dark blue 2016 Toyota 4Runner, which may have been left with the engine running, and fled.

The man allegedly struck an officer with the SUV and drove off. The officer was treated for shoulder and knee injuries.

The suspect led police on a chase through Aiea, Waialua and the North Shore where they lost sight of him.

He ditched the vehicle at about 8:20 a.m. on Waiahole Homestead Road and fled on foot. Police recovered the vehicle, which contained two HPD-issued firearms.

Waiahole Elementary School went into lockdown. HPD’s Specialized Services Division, K-9 unit, Crime Reduction Unit and helicopter assisted.

Ballard said the suspect apparently spent the night in a taro patch and hid in thick bushes.

Area residents are relieved the manhunt ended with the suspect’s arrest.

Waiahole resident Justeen Castillo said, “Thank God that he’s off the streets now.”

At some point the suspect came out from the bushes when a neighbor spotted him near a bridge on Waiahole Valley Road, about a half-mile from the poi factory, and called 911.

Ballard said, “We thank the community once again. They’re the ones that stepped forward.”

Ballard said HPD plans to review its policy that allows officers to keep their vehicles running when they make stops. “We’ll review everything as far as the investigation to find out if there’s something we can do better.”

“It’s a wake-up call for all officers to make sure that they never become complacent, because this island is not the way it used to be,” she said. “Things are changing, and we have to change with them.”

Waiahole taro farmer Hanale Bishop, 35, was having breakfast with his wife and daughter Monday when they saw a police car with lights flashing drive full speed right up into the middle of all the taro patches.”

Bishop knew something was wrong, so he made sure his wife and daughter were safely locked inside the house, and went to inspect and noticed the police car was damaged.

“I saw the guy kind of like making his way into the bushes, holding his shoulder, not moving fast,” Bishop said. “Right behind him were four other police cars. I was trying to tell them not to come down. One spun out. One got stuck in the taro patch.”

They managed to get out and pursued the guy, who “fled up the mountain.”

Bishop said the whole road was locked down, police converged on his property and his family remained inside for hours.

“Even now, even though they caught the guy, which is a relief, it was such an ordeal and so grandiose — the scale of things, multiple SWAT teams, K-9 units, helicopter,” he said.

“It was such a harrowing experience for my wife and little girl. (The 19-month-old) plays on those banks where the guy drove the stolen car. We could have been on any of those spots.”

“We’re still kind of like processing it all,” Bishop added. “We’re probably not going to stay up there tonight.”