A 26-year-old woman pleaded no contest Tuesday to charges stemming from an April rampage behind the wheel of a stolen sedan.
Cherish Torres will be sentenced at 8 a.m. Dec. 3 by Hilo Circuit Judge Glenn Hara for driving a stolen vehicle, second-degree property damage and resisting an order to stop. In return for her plea, prosecutors reduced a first-degree property damage charge and dropped charges of speeding, running a stoplight and failure to yield right of way.
Asked what the state would prove if the case went to trial, Deputy Prosecutor Jack Matsukawa said, “On April 11, 2015, the defendant was driving a Honda Civic belonging to a Shawnna Au without her permission. Now when she was driving this vehicle, she had no front license plates, which Officer (Christopher) Jelsma saw, and starting putting his blue light on, and she didn’t stop.”
Police say the attempt at a traffic stop took place at the corner of Lanikaula and Nowelo streets.
“It got to the point where Officer Jelsma had to put the siren on and followed her,” Matsukawa said. “She kept speeding and speeding until she hit the intersection of Kawailani Street and Komohana (Street). She ran that stop (light) without stopping. She continued on Komohana towards Ainaola (Drive). And when it was practically certain that a vehicle was coming up and she struck that vehicle, spinning out. … She spun out, struck Officer Jelsma’s vehicle and took off.”
Torres then sped down Haihai Street. At the intersection of Kilauea Avenue, she drove toward an officer on foot, police said. In response, the officer fired a shot toward the Honda. Torres then struck a police vehicle in pursuit and the Honda and the officer’s vehicle ended up in a ditch.
The officer who discharged his sidearm was not identified in court documents, but documents identify the officer the Honda sped toward as Officer Ewoud Bezemer.
Torres was on probation for the 2013 burglary of a Puna home when the incident occurred. Her probation was revoked at Tuesday’s hearing.
Driving a stolen vehicle and first-degree property damage are both Class C felonies punishable by up to five years in prison. Resisting an order to stop is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail.
In return for her no contest plea, the state will recommend a five-year prison term with a 20-month mandatory minimum before she is eligible for parole.
The sentence will run current with any prison handed down for the probation revocation, and she will receive credit for time already served. Torres is in custody at Hawaii Community Correctional Center in lieu of $27,000 bail.
The Honda was stolen during Merrie Monarch week and contained a Tahitian dance costume and implements that Au, who danced in the hula festival’s Wednesday night Ho‘ike, needed for her performance.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
