2 police-involved shootings in less than 24 hours
HONOLULU — Honolulu police were reviewing body camera footage Tuesday after the second officer-involved shooting in less than 24 hours.
On Monday, police shot and killed a man who rammed a vehicle at officers, fled and fired at police.
On Tuesday morning, a 27-year-old male suspect was taken to a hospital in critical condition after he was shot by police in West Oahu.
Monday’s shooting started when two men wearing ski masks were seen in a Sam’s Club parking lot in Pearl City, said Honolulu Police Chief Susan Ballard. Police found their vehicle on Kamehameha Highway and ordered them to get out. Instead, the driver rammed an unmarked police car and headed for the freeway.
After getting out of the vehicle and running, with officers chasing him, the man at some point fell to the ground and began firing at officers.
The suspect then ran again and pointed his firearm as the officers fired back, hitting the man, Ballard said.
He was taken to a hospital, where he died.
Honolulu mayor signs single-use plastics ban
HONOLULU — A measure prohibiting all single-use plastic and polystyrene food service items on Oahu has become law.
Mayor Kirk Caldwell signed the bill into law Sunday.
The Honolulu City Council passed the measure Dec. 4.
Food vendors will be prohibited from providing plastic forks, spoons, knives, straws or other utensils and plastic foam plates, cups and other containers beginning Jan. 1, 2021, officials said.
The ban will add other plastic food ware and begin applying to non-food-purveying businesses starting Jan. 1, 2022, officials said.
Businesses that do not adhere to the law face fines of up to $1,000 a day, although exemptions can be issued if they cannot find reasonable, non-plastic replacements.
Honolulu officer pleads guilty in urinal licking case
HONOLULU — A Honolulu police officer pleaded guilty Monday to depriving a homeless man of his civil rights by forcing him to lick a public urinal.
John Rabago said in court that he told the man that he wouldn’t arrest him if he licked the urinal. The man knelt down and put his head in the urinal, Rabago said.
Rabago and another officer were responded to a nuisance complaint when they found the man in a stall in the restroom.
The man told Rabago he would do anything not to get arrested. Rabago said he told him, “If you lick the urinal you won’t get arrested.”
Rabago remains on restricted duty. He and Reginald Ramones, who left the department in August, were arrested and charged earlier this year with conspiring to deprive the man of his civil rights. Ramones pleaded guilty in September to a lesser charge.
