It was a roundhouse kick to John Noland’s upper body and a push that dropped the former Hawaii sportscaster to the ground in Chinatown earlier this month, Deputy Prosecutor Oksana Vincent told a state judge Wednesday.
Vincent said a shocked Noland fell backward and hit his head on the sidewalk. That was in the early morning of June 9. Noland, 60, died six days later of a brain injury at The Queen’s Medical Center, where he had been on life support since a bystander found him unresponsive on the sidewalk.
An Oahu grand jury
returned an indictment Wednesday charging Mark A. Coleman with manslaughter. The indictment also charges him with possessing a small amount of cocaine when police arrested him on June 14.
Coleman, 58, remains in custody at Oahu Community Correctional Center. Circuit Judge Colette Garibaldi confirmed his bail Wednesday at $300,000.
Vincent told Garibaldi that after Noland fell backward and his body lay motionless on the sidewalk, Coleman punched Noland in the head, lifted Noland’s head a second time, let it drop then left.
Honolulu police said security video from nearby businesses on Maunakea Street show Noland and Coleman talking near Maunakea
Liquor &Grocery store about 1:35 a.m. then walking a short distance together. They said the two then argued resulting in Noland getting hit and falling backward. Police said the video shows Coleman fleeing mauka on Maunakea.
At the time of the incident, Coleman was wanted on a $25,000 cash-only bench warrant for failing to show up for a hearing in state court last September. Coleman was sentenced to four years of probation in March 2016 for drug and drug paraphernalia possession but had his probation revoked in April of last year for leaving a drug treatment program before he was clinically discharged.
Coleman was sentenced to a new four-year term of probation last July and
ordered to return to court
in September for a review hearing. Circuit Judge Faauuga Tootoo issued the bench warrant when Coleman didn’t show.
Prior to Coleman’s arrest, Honolulu police posted an information bulletin with color photographs of
Noland’s assailant taken from the Maunakea Street videos. Police said one officer immediately recognized the person in the photographs as Coleman based on prior law enforcement contacts with him in the Chinatown area.
Police arrested Coleman on Maunakea Street two blocks mauka of where
Noland was attacked. They said he was in the same clothes he was wearing in the videos.
