Police and Fire For Monday, July 25, 2011

Man arrested after allegedly hurting officer

A Honolulu police officer injured her right hand Friday during a traffic stop in Wahiawa when the male driver allegedly drove off, momentarily trapping the officer’s hand in the driver’s window, police said.

The driver, 40, was arrested Saturday on suspicion of first-degree assault on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest, and for an outstanding retake warrant. The traffic stop occurred Friday when the officer learned the driver had a warrant. The driver allegedly accelerated while the officer was trying to arrest him, trapping the officer’s hand.

 

NEIGHBOR ISLANDS

 

Man injured after tumbling 100 feet near waterfall

A 40-year-old man suffered multiple injuries after falling approximately 100 feet near a waterfall in Kalalau on Kauai and was airlifted to Lihue on Sunday morning, Kauai officials said.

The Coast Guard received a citizens band radio call that was relayed to 911 dispatchers at 7:42 a.m. The Kauai Fire Department’s Air 1 helicopter arrived at Kalalau Beach around 8:52 a.m. and found the man about 100 feet from Kalalau Stream with multiple injuries from his fall.

He was flown to Lihue and taken by ambulance to Wilcox Memorial Hospital, where he was in fair condition, Kauai officials said.

Hawaii Marijuana Dispensary Bill Snuffed Out

Sen. Kalani English: “I took this up because I saw people who were suffering

The latest attempt to set up a medical marijuana dispensary system in Hawaii — more than a decade after the state legalized cannabis for medicinal use — was snuffed out in committee this week on Oahu.

East Maui Sen. Kalani English had said the bill had a “really good chance of passing,” pointing out that it would generate needed revenue and give patients safe access to medicine, reports Jacob Shafer at Maui Time.

“I took this up because I saw people who were suffering, sometimes in the last months of their life,” English said.

Medical marijuana has been legal since 2000 in Hawaii, with an act removing state-level criminal penalties on the use, possession and cultivation by patients who have a signed statement from their physician affirming they suffer from a debilitating condition and that the “potential benefits of medical use of marijuana would likely outweigh the health risks.”

Senate Bill 1458 would have created a limited, five-year pilot program for medical marijuana dispensaries providing safe access to authorized patients. The proposal would have started the dispensary program in an unspecified county of Hawaii.

Surprise surprise — Hawaii legislators managed to screw it up.

One of the sticking points, according to AP, was whether the proposed dispensaries would sell to all eligible medical marijuana patients, or only those with “serious ailments” like cancer and AIDS — with the obvious and nasty implication being that other patients “aren’t really sick.”

Feds Bust $6M Marijuana Operation On State Land

HONOLULU — Federal authorities arrested five people, including a father and two sons, who they said cultivated thousands of marijuana plants on state land on Kauai.

 

The marijuana farm is in an extremely remote area at the foot of Mount Waialeale, halfway up a ridge.

 

The case started with a tip to Kauai police, who went up in their helicopter and spotted thousands of marijuana plants from the air.

 

The people charged cultivated marijuana full-time, authorities said.

 

Images from federal video surveillance from July and August showed people cultivating marijuana plants in rugged, mountainous terrain in what is known as the “Blue Hole” area on Kauai.

 

The feds seized nearly 6,000 pot plants worth about $6 million on the street. It is one of the largest marijuana busts in Hawaii‘s history, officials said.

 

“The large amount of drugs involved in this investigation shows that this operation was organized and conducted by this group for profit,” Hawaii U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo said.

 

The feds arrested and charged five people with manufacturing marijuana, including Edward H. Holland, 55; his son Robert Jason Bihm, Bihm’s wife, Melissa Ann; Holland’s other son, Ryan Edward Bihm; and Mark Steven Darling, 52.

 

“At one point, officers saw several of the defendants even smoking their harvested marijuana during their breaks from their labors,” Kubo said.

 

The pot cultivation site is at the end of a remote valley, part way up a ridge, prosecutors said. It takes one hour each way to drive and then hike in, according to authorities.

 

“You’re talking about a considerable effort to conduct this cultivation operation, and, more or less, during the growing season, you’re talking about a full-time job,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Kawahara said.

 

Feds also seized six trucks belonging to the group.

 

The hillside marijuana farm has been used for at least several years, investigators said.

 

Authorities said they expect to arrest more people in “Operation Green Stream.”

 

“We will continue to identify other members of this organization and take every penny that they earned illegally,” said Tony Williams of the Drug Enforcement Agency.

 

The group members could get 10 years to life in federal prison if they are convicted. However, the man authorities fingered as the ringleader, Edward Holland, could get at least 20 years in prison because he already served a four-year sentence in another pot case.

 

Holland was convicted of marijuana distribution in 1991
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Oahu Report Of Severed Hand Turns Out To Be Squid

HONOLULU — A report of a severed hand found at an Oahu seabird sanctuary has turned out to be dried squid.

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports that a woman contacted a state agency and reported seeing the hand at the Moku Auia Seabird Sanctuary, also known as Goat Island. She said she spotted the hand over the weekend and again Thursday.

Honolulu police homicide detectives were called to the sanctuary to help with the case.

Police spokeswoman Michelle Yu said Thursday afternoon that the object was determined to be dried squid.

Kipu Falls, Hawaii Swimming Hole, Is A Deadly Tourist Trap

LIHUE, Hawaii (Associated Press) — Travel guidebooks call Kipu Falls “a glorious little hidden place” and a “swimming hole extraordinaire.” But the alluring beauty of the waterfall and natural pool conceals a deadly side.

Five visitors have drowned at Kipu Falls in the past five years, including two since December. In most of the cases, the swimmers jumped off the top of the waterfall into the pool of blue-green water about 20 feet below, then were pulled to their deaths while attempting to swim to the shore. Others have suffered chest injuries, rope burns, perforated eardrums and broken and sprained ankles. A teenage girl was paralyzed after jumping there.

Balling