Man Accused Of Leading Police On High-Speed Chase
KITV-4 TV News Honolulu
NORTH SHORE, Oahu, Hawaii -- A 20-year-old man is behind bars for leading police on a high-speed car chase on the North Shore Tuesday and for attempting to run over an officer.
Officials said the officer fired four shots in the incident.
Police said Moani Thomas led officers on a chase from Ke Iki Beach, where he was suspected of stealing cars, to Turtle Bay where Officer Bobby Harrison tried to arrest him. Thomas then tried to run over Harrison, who fired four shots at the car as it sped away from Turtle Bay, police said.
Thomas finally stopped the car in a Kahuku neighborhood with the motor still running.
Thomas jumped out and begged two young men to drive him into town to Papakolea, witnesses said.
“He would give us money in return to take him into town. We never seen this guy in Kahuku before. So, we told him we didn’t want to do it,” Kahuku resident Albert Ramos said. “He was paranoid.”
Police finally caught up with Thomas at a beach house in Malaekahana.
They held the man in the beach house until they could get the young men there to identify him.
Kahuku resident Pono Pau was brought to the house. After he identified the suspect Ramos went in to identify.
Police took Thomas to the Kahuku Police Station, where he was arrested on charges of car theft and attempted murder.