Maui police arrest driver accused of plowing into Kihei surf shop, narrowly missing employee

KIHEI (HawaiiNewsNow) - Maui police have arrested the driver accused of plowing into a surf store in Kihei Wednesday afternoon.

Police arrested the driver, 20-year-old Kekoa Kinimaka, on suspicion of first-degree criminal property damage.

The incident happened at the Hi-Tech Surf Shop in Kihei around 4:00 p.m.

A witness said the driver went back and forth inside the shop after crashing through the doors and windows.

“That guy never stopped. He didn’t care. He was hell-bent on destruction,” said Diane Dooley. “All you could hear was glass and the metal. It was horrifying.”

The only employee who was inside says the truck missed him by a foot.

“I just ran out of there thinking initially it might have been a drunk driver, something along those lines, somebody in an accident,” witness Ty Abbott said.

“And the truck backed up, hit the other wall inside of the building, then backed through the front window, then backed all the way back through the door that it went in initially to the parking lot.”

He added the driver’s behavior seemed suspicious.

“Definitely felt a little intentional, if not entirely intentional,” Abbott added. “I’m just glad no one was really hurt and I got to walk away from this one.”

No injuries were reported

The truck was found abandoned along Auhana Road.

Owner Kim Ball estimates hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage.

“I think it’s very fortunate that Ty didn’t get hurt. He almost got run over. We’ve been in business 40 years. We’ve had other drive throughs. This is by far the worst one,” Ball said.

Back in 2017, surveillance video captured a smash and grab at their Kahului store.

So far there is no information on what motivated the attacks on the stores.

Ball says he has no idea why someone would do this to him, but he forgives them.

“It’s done. We move on,” he said. “It’s such a miracle. Anybody could have been in that store.”

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