Police are looking for a Toyota Tacoma pickup truck they say was used to intentionally damage an officer’s vehicle and a 24-year-old Puna woman they think is connected to the incident.
According to a written police statement, on Thursday, an officer spotted a white truck with no hood, blacked-out windows and license plate HZK 649 on Kaumana Drive in Hilo. When the officer went to investigate, the truck backed into the officers vehicle, pulled forward, and smashed into the officer’s car a second time before driving away.
The officer was not in the vehicle, which police say is a total loss.
On Friday at about 11:20 a.m., police spotted the same truck, which had been painted black in the meantime, in the Puainako Town Center parking lot. When officers approached, the truck sped off recklessly toward Keaau on Highway 11, police say.
Police say Tearon Pacheco-Fernandez is wanted in connection from the incidents. They said Pacheco-Fernandez, who was the subject of a wanted bulletin in August, has outstanding warrants for her arrest.
The statement didn’t explicitly state Pacheco-Fernandez was driving the truck, but are warning the public the driver isn’t concerned about public safety and “is willing to take any risks in fleeing from law enforcement.”
Anyone with information on the truck or Pacheco-Fernandez’s whereabouts is asked to call the police non-emergency number at 935-3311 or Crime Stoppers at 961-8300.