Toddler thrown onto freeway

[pzarquon]

Re: Toddler thrown onto freeway

Well, that's just an off the cuff Google. I also found a Matt Higa on Facebook from Pauoa, but it's definitely the same guy. There's gotta be dozens of folks with that name (though two at Roosevelt within a couple of years of eachother seems unlikely), so... We must indeed wait and see.

[pzarquon]

Re: Toddler thrown onto freeway

Definitely NOT the same guy. Clumsy iPhone fingers...

[LikaNui]

Re: Toddler thrown onto freeway

Here's part of the Advertiser update:

A man threw a boy he sometimes babysat off the Miller Street pedestrian overpass today to his death, then calmly walked away and smoked a cigarette in a surreal, gruesome crime that shocked police and witnesses.
Police took Matthew Higa, 23, who listed no local address, into custody in connection with the death. Records show he has four outstanding misdemeanor warrants.
Police said he occasionally babysat the child, but apparently was not related to him. The child's identity was not released yesterday [sic], and police did not say where the child lived.
(...)
Police did not release details on where the suspect was before the death.
But his hospital garments, a teal short-sleeve top and matching shorts, led to questions about whether he had been released from a medical facility.
The Queen's Medical Center, the nearest facility with a mental health wing, would not say whether Higa had been a patient previously or had been at the hospital yesterday.
Queen's spokeswoman Rebecca Pollard said in a statement yesterday [sic] that the hospital did not have any missing patients. She also said that, "we have not and do not discharge any patients in a clinically unstable condition." But while Higa apparently was not missing from the hospital yesterday, police said he had been a patient there before and had been admitted as recently as last month after an incident at a Honolulu car dealership in which he locked himself in a car and refused to get out until officers were called to the scene.
(...)
Higa graduated from Roosevelt High in 2003.

[modpirate]

Re: Toddler thrown onto freeway

We've all heard stories about how even prison inmates feel child molesters/child killers are scum of the earth, so I imagine Matthew Higa will... have an uncomfortable time.
Dare I say, "well deserved."

Seriously doubt he's going to prison. Dude's headed for a place with soft walls, dim lights and cold mushy food for a long, long time.

[LikaNui]

Re: Toddler thrown onto freeway

Seriously doubt he's going to prison. Dude's headed for a place with soft walls, dim lights and cold mushy food for a long, long time.

Quite right. According to this story on KHON's website:

The father of a 23 year old man accused of throwing a toddler to its death off a pedestrian bridge that spans the H-1 Freeway says his son Matthew Higa has a history of mental illness, but never received treatment.
Shelton Higa spoke to Khon2 a few hours after his son was arrested by police Thursday afternoon. He said his son has only a few traffic violations and has never been in trouble with the law.
While arriving at the main police cellblock, Matthew Higa displayed bizarre behavior when questioned by reporters. “Thank you for everything,” a handcuffed Higa screamed, as he was taken to be booked and fingerprinted under heavy guard.
(...)
According to another neighbor, Charlie Ornellas, a young child who lives in an apartment beneath Higa was found by a police officer earlier in the day wandering around the area. "I saw an undercover cop with the baby and he gave the baby to the father," said Ornellas.
It’s not known if the two year old boy is the murder victim, but Vail says Higa would often play with the child. "When the baby sees Matthew he gets all happy and he runs up to Matthew."
(...)

[LikaNui]

Re: Toddler thrown onto freeway

Oh my GAWD!!! Just now, on KFVE's 9pm news, they had Beth Hillyer interviewing motorists who were stuck in traffic on the H-1 because of the child's murder... and she said that the drivers were "killing time."
What an exceptionally inappropriate and amazingly insensitive choice of words!!!!!!
I'd have my own words: "Beth Hillyer... YOU'RE FIRED."

[lavagal]

Re: Toddler thrown onto freeway

Oh my GAWD!!! Just now, on KFVE's 9pm news, they had Beth Hillyer interviewing motorists who were stuck in traffic on the H-1 because of the child's murder... and she said that the drivers were "killing time."
What an exceptionally inappropriate and amazingly insensitive choice of words!!!!!!
I'd have my own words: "Beth Hillyer... YOU'RE FIRED."

Definitely one of the worst things about breaking-news reporting--asking people what they think, when really it's so irrelevant! And yes, a poor choice of words. Should have been "idling" or "patiently waiting."

[infinitypro]

Re: Toddler thrown onto freeway

*sigh*

The 10 o' clock KITV 4 news identified the boy as Cyrus, but police have not confirmed. The newscaster warned the audience before showing emotional footage of the boy's mother.

I'm shocked, hurt and angry...only a fraction of what I'm sure the family members are feeling.

[GeckoGeek]

Re: Toddler thrown onto freeway

Seriously doubt he's going to prison. Dude's headed for a place with soft walls, dim lights and cold mushy food for a long, long time.

No doubt about it. Let's just hope he stays there.

When I first heard the story, I thought it might have something to do with the homeless camps up on the side of the freeway there. (Supposed to be a park, but little used, so it's been taken over.)

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Toddler thrown onto freeway

And now HPD has picked up both parents for questioning.

Hmmm child neglect? The mother was heard yelling as she ran upstairs to her apartment something like, "Why weren't you watching him" apparently yelling at the father.

Oh my it seems this is getting deeper and deeper.

[GeckoGeek]

Re: Toddler thrown onto freeway

And now HPD has picked up both parents for questioning.

My guess is HPD is "just making sure". Given that the perp played with and sometimes baby sat him, It's hard to see how the parents were all that negligent. But, we'll see ....

[Adri]

Re: Toddler thrown onto freeway

I suspect an investigation for neglect as well since the child was found wandering outside earlier and returned home by the police and then apparently found his way outside again (because the news said someone saw the child across the street after he was returned home but prior to being killed).

[Pomai]

Re: Toddler thrown onto freeway

This tragic incident is now national news.

[SusieMisajon]

Re: Toddler thrown onto freeway

This tragic incident is now national news.

International. My neighbors are telling me about life in Hawaii.

[scrivener]

Re: Toddler thrown onto freeway

I have it from a well-connected source that the child was a girl. Honestly, I don't know whom to believe, because it's a really well-connected source.