Honolulu police are investigating a brazen robbery that occurred early Thursday when three people rammed a Kakaako storefront with a pickup truck and took four electric bicycles after attacking a security guard.
The robbers, clad in hoodies, were seen on surveillance video driving up to Segway of Hawaii at the Coral Commercial Center, 670 Auahi St., in a black pickup truck just after 5:05 a.m. One of them used a blowtorch on the corner of the store window before returning to the truck when a security guard approached.
The same person is then seen taking what appeared to be a stun gun out of their pocket and hiding it within the side of the truck bed when the device emits a blue and white flash of light. When the security guard walks up and asks what they are doing, the video shows the robber brandishing the device and attacking the guard with it.
The three bandits then immediately reverse the pickup truck into the storefront, shattering the window and door before quickly loading the truck bed with an electric motor bike and three Segway Dirt electric bikes and driving off.
The truck had the word “Aloha” and a black-and-white floral stripe sticker on the passenger side of the vehicle.
The security guard, who suffered pain to his back in the attack, was treated by Honolulu Emergency Services at the scene.
In light of Thursday’s robbery and the attack on the security guard, Segway of Hawaii owner Jeanne Datz-Rice said she is furious about a new law set to take effect Jan. 1 that repeals Hawaii’s ban on the possession and sale of electric guns, commonly referred to as stun guns, and regulates their sale and use to persons age 21 and older.
Though the new law explicitly limits their use for self-defense, defense of another person and protection of property, Datz-Rice said she anticipates crime to increase with the reckless misuse of stun guns.
“It’s going to get worse,” she said.
Prior to Gov. David Ige signing House Bill 891 into law as Act 183 in July, the state Department of the Attorney General submitted testimony during the 2021 legislative session pointing out that the constitutionality of Hawaii’s existing electric gun ban had been drawn into question by a U.S. Supreme Court decision in a Massachusetts case, as well as a pending lawsuit at U.S. District Court in Hawaii seeking an injunction to invalidate the ban.
“The passage of the bill is necessary to ensure public safety, because without it, if Hawaii’s electric gun ban is invalidated by the courts, the purchase, possession, and use of electric guns by the public will not be regulated or controlled in any manner,” the Department of the Attorney General said in its testimony.
In addition to selling electric bikes, accessories and other products, Segway of Hawaii operates Segway tours in Waikiki, Kakaako and Kona. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Datz-Rice said, tours have slowed, as a majority of clients are from Japan. The business has been relying mainly on retail sales to stay afloat, she said.
In addition to the stolen items, at least two other electric bicycles in the store were damaged when the suspects rammed the truck into the storefront. Datz-Rice estimated the damage and losses at $30,000.
Police had not made any arrests as of Thursday afternoon. The security guard who confronted the robbers said he hopes police catch them soon. “Can’t have them running around, breaking and taking things,” said the guard, who did not want to be identified out of concern for his safety.
Anyone with information on the robbery should call 911 or CrimeStoppers at 808-955-8300, or file an anonymous tip at honolulucrimestoppers.org or via the P3 Tips app.
