Royce Gouveia punched his friend Albert Meyer in the face, causing Meyer to fall backward and hit his head on the pavement, Deputy Prosecutor Vickie Kapp said Thursday.
Meyer died two days later.
"Basically, false-cracking him in the middle of the street," she said describing the incident during a court hearing. Kapp and others did not say what may have provoked Gouveia.
An Oahu grand jury returned an indictment Thursday charging Gouveia, 27, with manslaughter for Meyer’s death. Gouveia has been in custody since his arrest Monday.
Circuit Judge Richard Perkins confirmed Gouveia’s bail at $250,000.
Police found Meyer, 29, unconscious on a Hookomo Street sidewalk at 8:45 p.m. Sept. 27, a few blocks from his Makakilo home. He died in a hospital Saturday.
Kapp said Meyer sustained a skull fracture and brain injuries, and died from blunt force head trauma.
Police arrested Gouveia at his home in Makaha.
Gouveia is also facing charges of assault, terroristic threatening, kidnapping and abuse of a family or household member in connection with a Sept. 6 incident involving an ex-girlfriend.
Police said Gouveia entered the 26-year-old woman’s home while she was sleeping, threatened her with two kitchen knives, choked her and dropped one of the knives on her head, causing a cut.
Police said Gouveia and the woman have a child together.
