3 injured in single-car crash on Maui

Three people were injured, one critically, in a one-car accident in Wailuku early yesterday morning.

Police said an Infiniti sedan operated by a 26-year-old Kihei woman was traveling north on Honoapiilani Highway near Kuikahi Drive when the driver lost control. The vehicle hit a dirt embankment and overturned, causing a 39-year-old Wailuku man to be thrown from the car.

The man was taken to Maui Memorial Medical Center in critical condition. The driver and another passenger, a 25-year-old man from Haiku, were taken to the hospital with serious injuries.

Police were investigating whether speed, drugs or alcohol were involved in the crash.

Teen arrested in Waipahu school fire

Police said a 17-year-old boy confessed to being one of two people who started a fire that destroyed a portable building at Waipahu Intermediate School on June 11.

Following up on a CrimeStoppers tip, police on Friday arrested the boy. The second suspect, a homeless man believed to be in his early 20s, has not been located.

In a taped confession to police, the teenager admitted to helping the man set the blaze, which caused an estimated $560,000 in damage to the building and its contents.

The boy told police that he had been drinking with friends on the school grounds prior to the fire. As he was leaving, he saw the second suspect, whom the boy said had come to his aid during a fight. The homeless man told him he was going to "light up the school" and persuaded him to help, he told police.

The boy said he set fire to a door on the left side of the building, while the man set fire to a door on the right side, as well as other areas. Police said the boy’s account was consistent with findings in an ongoing arson investigation.

The boy was arrested on suspicion of first-degree arson and released pending investigation.

Knife used in alleged assault, threat

Police arrested a 68-year-old man who allegedly choked and threatened an 83-year-old man with a knife Friday in Pearl City.

Police said the two men were arguing about 10:30 p.m. when the threat was made. The younger man was arrested on suspicion of first-degree terroristic threatening.

Search for missing diver suspended

The Coast Guard last night suspended the search for a missing 46-year-old diver who was last seen Friday in waters off Maui.

The search began about 2 p.m. shortly after Edward A. Hickey disappeared while about 140 feet below the surface, three miles west of Lanai, the Coast Guard said.

Hickey, 46, of Olowalu Village, had been diving off the Aulani, owned by Kealohi Fishing, Maui police said. He was wearing a professional dive suit.

The Coast Guard suspended its search at 7:40 p.m. yesterday.

Coast Guard search crews Friday and yesterday searched the ocean surface aboard an HH-65 Dolphin helicopter and a 45-foot response boat, searching an area about twice the size of Lanai.

"We saturated the area in the Auau Channel from Friday afternoon until this morning and we are now focusing our search north of Lanai," Petty Officer 1st Class Matt Couling said in a news release earlier yesterday.