A 12-year veteran for Hawai‘i Island police was recognized among the awardees for Top Cop Hawai‘i in Honolulu.
The O‘ahu-based nonprofit honored Detective David Po‘ohina and his investigative work, specifically his efforts on two major violent crime cases in Hilo which led to the arrest of a suspect through DNA evidence.
According to previous reports from Hawai‘i Island police, Hiram Dale Keli‘i Kuilauwoho Kawelu, 37, of Washington State, was taken into custody in August after DNA evidence connected him to two violent incidents that occurred in Hilo, an assault of a caretaker during a burglary in January and the death of a delivery truck driver three years ago.
Po‘ohina, who has served in the Area I Criminal Investigation Section since November 2023, was assigned to the home burglary case. Through the course of the investigation, the detective learned two masked men, one armed with a shotgun and the other with a large ratchet breaker bar, forced entry into the victims’ home, demanding to know the location of a safe. When a caretaker attempted to intervene, the suspects assaulted the caretaker before fleeing the scene…