Pahoa woman charged for ramming police car

A Pahoa woman was charged Friday for reportedly ramming a police vehicle and injuring an officer last week.

Rina-Lee Yaeko Shimizu, 38 years old, was charged with first-degree assault against a police officer, second-degree assault, first-degree property damage, DUI, three counts of promotion of a dangerous drug and multiple firearm and traffic offenses after an incident on Wednesday, April 17.

According to a police report, Puna patrol officers stopped a vehicle Wednesday evening for driving with a broken headlight on Highway 130. As an officer pulled behind the vehicle, the suspect attempted to perform a U-turn, colliding head-on with another police vehicle.

After the initial collision, the offending vehicle came to a stop on an embankment with its airbags deployed. As officers approached the vehicle, however, the vehicle once again attempted to flee, reversing into the same police vehicle twice more before finally extricating itself.

Officers pursued the vehicle as it fled toward Pahoa and stopped the suspect in Hawaiian Beaches. The driver, Shimizu, was arrested at the scene, while investigating detectives found drugs and a loaded pistol in the vehicle.

One of the officers was transported to the Hilo Medical Center for injuries sustained in the collision and was later released in good condition.

Shimizu is being held on a $263,000 bail and remains in custody.