Ewa Beach man charged with assaulting officer during traffic stop

Peter Boylan, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser
·3 min read

COURTESY HAWAII CRIMINAL JUSTICE DATA CENTER Kalahikiola Hong Wai Bow Tavares 1 /1 COURTESY HAWAII CRIMINAL JUSTICE DATA CENTER Kalahikiola Hong Wai Bow Tavares A 25-year-old Ewa Beach man was charged Friday with assaulting a law enforcement officer after allegedly running over a police officer’s leg during a traffic stop.

Kalahikiola Hong Wai Bow Tavares was charged Friday with one count of assaulting a law enforcement officer in the first degree, a Class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

Tavares’ bail is set at $11, 000, and he is scheduled for a preliminary hearing at 1 :30 p.m. Tuesday. He also has pending court cases for a separate abuse of a household member incident and a traffic crime, according to state court records.

The alleged assault occurred at 10 :15 a.m. Tuesday when a 29-year-old Honolulu Police Department patrol officer with two years of experience pulled over a Toyota Tacoma with an expired safety sticker driven by Ta ­vares on Pohakupuna Road and Poloula Place in Ewa Beach.

The officer ran Tavares’ identification through the police records system and discovered he was allegedly driving without a license and wanted on a warrant for allegedly hitting his father during a family fight June 27. In that case, Tavares, who has 16 prior arrests and citations including four convictions, allegedly hit his father on the lip while he was trying to break up a fight between Tavares and his wife, according to state court documents.

Following the records check, the officer approached the Tacoma and made contact with Tavares, according to an affidavit authored by a District 8 Crime Reduction Unit officer that was filed with the judicial determination of probable cause.

Tavares allegedly got into his truck and tried to drive away from the officer after he grabbed Tavares’ left arm while trying to arrest him. The officer lost his grip and fell to the ground, and Tavares allegedly ran over his left leg and injured his left hand. HPD did not reply to a Honolulu Star-Advertiser message seeking comment on the officer’s condition.

At 11 :48 a.m. Tuesday a CRU officer spotted Tavares’ truck and started surveillance before handing it off to one of HPD’s two MD 500E helicopters. Tavares was seen by officers at about 1 :15 p.m. pulling into the parking lot of the Kapolei police station.

Tavares refused spoken commands from police officers displaying their badges and asking him to surrender.

After a “brief struggle ” CRU officers were able to detain and arrest Tavares on suspicion of abuse of a household member and first-degree assault of a law enforcement officer.

The patrol officer was treated at The Queen’s Medical Center West for “bodily injury to his left leg and left hand area, ” according to state court records.

“While conducting a lawful traffic stop, the suspect drove away from the officer knocking him down to the ground and injuring him in the process. The officer was taken to a local area hospital for treatment. The suspect was located and upon positive identification, was placed under arrest, ” according to public information from Wednesday’s daily bulletin from HPD’s Criminal Investigation Division.