Hilo man arrested after hitting two police vehicles while driving stolen truck Monday : Big Island Now

A Hilo man was arrested Monday after driving a stolen truck that nearly struck an individual and later crashed into a wooden barrel, a maintenance vehicle, and two police vehicles.

The Hawai’i Police Department said at approximately 8 a.m. on Monday, officers responded to a trespassing report regarding a male in a gray pickup truck in the parking of an apartment complex in the 100 block of Banyan Drive in Hilo.

Upon arrival, officers saw the truck parked and as they approached it, the driver, later identified as 33-year-old Gregory Douglas Kama of Hilo, started up the truck and accelerated out of the parking lot without warning.

Shortly after Kama is said to have nearly hit an employee at the complex before crashing into the wooden barrel and vehicles.

Police said he then drove off on Banyan Drive before entering the parking lot of a nearby hotel. Kama then is said to have abandoned the truck and fled on foot before being located and arrested by officers.

Officers and the employee were not injured.

Police said the truck had been reported stolen from Kona on Aug. 28.

The Hawai’i Police Department is asking for the public’s assistance for information regarding the alleged terroristic threatening and criminal property damage investigation.

Kama was arrested on suspicion of three counts of first-degree terroristic threatening and three counts of second-degree criminal property damage. He is being held at the Hilo Cellblock while detectives with the Area I Criminal Investigation Section continue the investigation.

Police ask anyone with information about the incident to call the police department’s non-emergency number at (808) 935-3311.