Suspect in custody following robbery, fatal collision in Wahiawa

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - Police are investigating a robbery in Wahiawa on Monday that ended with an elderly man dead after being struck by a vehicle.

The Honolulu Medical Examiner identified the victim as 73-year-old Todd White.

Police said the incident began when White went to the Bank of Hawaii parking lot in Wahiawa to sell a gold chain. His wife sat in their vehicle.

The buyer arrived, then allegedly fled with the chain without paying.

That’s when the victim started chasing after the suspect’s vehicle on foot and reportedly jumped on the hood, police sources said. The victim’s wife also followed the suspect in her vehicle.

At one point, the suspect’s vehicle was rammed by the victim’s wife.

It is not clear if the victim sustained injuries after being pinned by the second vehicle or because he was struck by the suspect’s vehicle. He was taken in critical condition to a hospital, where he died.

The suspect, meanwhile, fled the scene.

He was apprehended late Monday in California, and remains in military custody, authorities said.

Witnesses say the victim did everything he could to get the driver to stop.

Dana Vincent, of Wahiawa, was just about to start her shift at Ohana Sub on Kamehameha Highway when she saw and heard a white sedan running the red light with a van chasing them from behind.

“It was maybe quarter to 10 when we heard beeping of a car, the horn of a vehicle and I turned that way to California Ave,” Vincent said, adding the car sped by with an elderly man on the hood.

“They kept going, the van evidently hit the car, the car still kept going all the way to the bridge pass Olive and that’s when I noticed that the van hit the vehicle one more time," Vincent said.

Surveillance video from the building Vincent works in show the man clinging to the car.

Sources say the driver robbed that man and then drove off with his car near Kamehameha Highway and Wilikina Drive.

The victim has not been identified, but those who went to church with him say he was the type to light up any room.

“Every so often he would give us these Starburst candies, he’d put on his suitcase and we’d take it from him,” said Po’okela Woods, of the North Shore. “Usually we’d meet with him during family parties, he made everybody laugh and smile.”

This story will be updated.