Marine released after alleged attack

Honolulu police released a Kaneohe-based Marine yesterday morning after the fellow Marine he allegedly stabbed refused to press charges.

The victim, 27, remained in stable but serious condition with stab wounds at the Queen’s Medical Center awaiting a transfer to Tripler Army Medical Center, said Lt. Diann Olson, a Marine spokeswoman.

Honolulu police are still investigating the case. The Marines returned the suspect, 21, to duty, but officials with Marine Corps Base Hawaii, could still proceed with a case through the military court system should they find it warranted, Olson said.

Police said the younger man allegedly stabbed the older man with a knife at 2:56 a.m. Monday following an argument at Aikahi Shopping Center, police said.

Both men are lance corporals stationed at the Kaneohe base. The suspect serves in the infantry with Headquarters Company for the 3rd Marine Regiment.

Waianae man ID’d as crash victim

The Honolulu medical examiner identified a 40-year-old man killed Saturday in a pedestrian accident in Nanakuli as Byron Ching of Waianae.

Ching died of multiple internal injuries from the crash, the Medical Examiner’s Office said.

Police arrested a 30-year-old Waianae woman Saturday for investigation of negligent homicide in connection with the crash.

The woman drove a 2005 Chevy sport utility vehicle that veered off Farrington Highway and killed Ching, who was walking on a Nanakuli sidewalk at 4:15 a.m. Saturday, police said.

Police were investigating whether alcohol and speed were factors in the crash.

The driver and a 21-year-old man also in the vehicle were taken to the Queen’s Medical Center in serious condition. The woman was released; the man was in stable condition, police said.

Forty-five people have died on Oahu roads this year, compared with 41 at this time last year. 

Diver nearly drowns at North Shore

A man in his late 20s was taken in critical condition to the hospital yesterday after nearly drowning while diving on the North Shore.

Paramedics were called to Sharks Cove about 3:30 p.m., where the man was diving with friends, said Honolulu Emergency Services Department spokesman Bryan Cheplic.

Bystanders brought the man to shore and performed CPR on him until paramedics arrived and then took him to a nearby hospital in critical condition, Cheplic said.

Waves were moderate with 2- to 3-foot face heights at Sharks Cove, where there are no city lifeguards, Cheplic said.

"The water was rough because the wind was 10 to 20 mph," he said.