Puna woman arrested on suspicion of attempted murder

Police serving a warrant for contempt of court Wednesday afternoon made a bigger discovery — an allegedly stolen pickup truck with a bullet hole.

The truck, according to Capt. Robert Wagner, was the stolen black 1989 Nissan pickup truck allegedly used in an attempt to run down two officers along Volcano Highway (Highway 11) in Mountain View on Tuesday afternoon. According to police, one shot was fired in the direction of the truck, which continued to speed away toward Volcano.

“We located the pickup truck at a residence in Mountain View,” Wagner said. “The one round struck the vehicle.”

Police arrested 33-year-old Ashley Brooks DeMorales, of Mountain View, at the Old Volcano Road home. She was charged with contempt of court. She was also booked on suspicion of two counts of attempted first-degree murder for allegedly trying to run down the two Puna patrol officers plus second-degree theft for allegedly stealing the truck.

DeMorales, who remains in custody at the Hilo police cellblock, had not been charged with the latter offenses as of Thursday afternoon.

Neither officer was injured in the incident. Wagner said both officers, who were serving a bench warrant on someone along the roadway when the incident occurred, unholstered their weapons.

Police closed down one lane of Highway 11 for more than three hours while investigating the officer-involved shooting and issued a traffic advisory due to the traffic backlog caused during the afternoon rush hour.

Two investigations are being conducted into the officer-involved shooting, which police say is standard practice whenever an officer’s weapon is discharged in the line of duty. Hilo Criminal Investigation Section detectives are conducting a criminal investigation, and the Officer of Professional Standards, the department’s internal affairs unit, is conducting an administrative review of the incident.

Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.