POLICE BEAT
Five cars burned in Waikiki fire
Advertiser Staff
Five cars were damaged or destroyed, but no one was injured, during a fire yesterday morning on the seventh floor of the parking garage at the Waikiki Landmark condominium on the corner of Kalakaua Avenue and Ala Wai.
Fire Capt. Kenison Tejada said the fire broke out just before 4 a.m. and caused the building's alarm system to sound. Tejada said several of the building's occupants "self-evacuated" but all of them had returned to their units by about 4:45 a.m.
The garage is equipped with a sprinkler system, which contributed to keeping the fire in check, Tejada said. He said investigators believe one of the cars caught fire accidentally and that the blaze spread to the other cars.
A preliminary damage estimate to the cars was set at $43,000.
POLICE CAPTURE SECOND ESCAPEE
HILO, Hawai'i — Big Island police have captured another of the three men who escaped from the Hawai'i Community Correctional Center on Oct. 2.
Police on Wednesday arrested Shawn Dennis DeCosta, 25, in 'Upolu, North Kohala, after authorities received a report DeCosta had been seen at a Kokoiki residence.
He was arrested on suspicion of escape, and promotion of dangerous drugs and drug paraphernalia, after police allegedly found him with a small amount of crystal methamphetamine.
DeCosta, 31-year-old Franklin Enos and Kole Race-Joaquin, 23, escaped from the prison this month after removing a metal screen and louvers in a restroom window and climbing out.
Enos was recaptured on Oct. 13 after he was found sleeping in a parked vehicle in a driveway in Hawaiian Paradise Park in Puna.
Police were still seeking Race-Joaquin, described as dangerous. Anyone who knows his whereabouts is asked to call Detective Juergen Canda of the Criminal Investigation Section at 961-2381 or the police nonemergency number, 935-3311.
WOMAN ARRESTED IN CAR ATTACK
A 42-year-woman was arrested Wednesday in the Campbell Industrial Park area after allegedly trying to run over an ex-boyfriend with a car.
The 35-year-old man told police he recently broke up with the woman, who showed up near his workplace about 3 p.m. and rammed his car several times. The man said he got out of his car and tried to run away, at which point the woman tried to run him down.
BAD CHECK LEADS TO SEVERAL CHARGES
A 29-year-old man was arrested Wednesday night for investigation of several felony offenses after he allegedly tried to use a forged check to pay for his room at the Ala Moana Hotel.
Police went to the hotel about 10:30 p.m. after hotel workers determined the check had been forged.
Police said they found brass knuckles in the room and a glass pipe with white residue in the man's pocket.
He was arrested on suspicion of second-degree forgery, third-degree identity theft, possession of a prohibited weapon and drug offenses.
