Waianae man faces charges for allegedly assaulting officers and HPD dog
A Waianae man faces multiple criminal charges and a Thursday court date for barricading himself in his home for 17 hours on April 18 and allegedly firing arrows at law enforcement officers and stabbing a Honolulu police dog.
Howard J. Abraham, who has no prior criminal convictions, is charged with three counts of first-degree attempted assault on a law enforcement officer and one count of causing injury to a law enforcement animal.
The first three charges stem from Abraham’s alleged targeting of three deputy sheriffs with his bow and steel arrowheads. The final charge accuses Abraham of stabbing Zach, a 6-year-old Belgian Malinois employed by the Honolulu Police Department.
Zach suffered “a major avulsion, laceration or penetration of the skin,” according to state court records.
“Zach is continuing to recover from his injuries,” Michelle Yu, HPD spokesperson, told the Honolulu Star- Advertiser. “We appreciate the outpouring of public support.”
Abraham is scheduled to be arraigned and enter a plea to the charges Thursday morning before Oahu Circuit Judge Ronald G. Johnson. He is being held in lieu of $500,000 bail. The case is being prosecuted by the state Department of the Attorney General.
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According to an indictment, on April 18, Abraham “did intentionally engage in conduct which is a substantial step in a course of conduct intended or known to cause bodily injury to a law enforcement officer who is engaged in the performance of duty” when he used a bow to release arrows from a second-story window at deputy sheriffs who were trying to serve an eviction notice at Abraham’s Waianae home.
At around 10 a.m. that day, deputies from the Sheriff Division’s Special Operation Section arrived at the home on the 85-100 block of Ala Walua Street to evict Abraham. He refused to let the deputies into the home and didn’t comply with their request, court documents say.
A sheriff’s crisis negotiator was called in to begin negotiations. After the negotiations failed, deputies entered the home, and Abraham, who was at the top of the stairway, allegedly fired several arrows at them.
Honolulu police responded at 2:36 p.m. to a report of an aggravated assault at Ala Walua Street to assist state deputy sheriffs. HPD’s Specialized Services Division officers also responded to the Waianae standoff and tried to force Abraham to leave the home, at times using tear gas.
After HPD arrived, more arrows were fired at officers, and Zach was stabbed, according to the court documents, which do not give details on the stabbing.