Honolulu man charged after dragging woman from condo garage

Police arrested a 23-year-old Honolulu man on Wednesday and charged him with kidnapping after a video captured him dragging a woman from a condominium garage earlier this week. The suspect, identified as Diesel Makanikaiaulu Kawelo, was taken into custody following a Monday afternoon incident at the Kainalu condominiums. A judge set his bail at $500,000.

Authorities responded to the complex after receiving reports of a kidnapping. Surveillance footage from that afternoon shows a truck parked outside the building. The video records Kawelo entering the garage, confronting two women, and chasing one of them.

A 77-year-old resident, who requested not be named, described the moment Kawelo lifted her 24-year-old friend into the air. Police reported that the suspect also elbowed the older woman in the face. “He shoved me away from my friend and he picked her up,” the resident said. “He looked like a monster. He just had so much hatred and craziness in his eyes.”

The resident shouted for help while her friend struggled against the suspect. “I was yelling, ‘Help! Help!’ and she was yelling, too,” the 77-year-old said. “She was saying, ‘You don’t want to do this. Don’t do this.’” Her friend attempted to fend off the man while they both called out to neighbors.

Beverly Louis, a neighbor who witnessed the event, saw Kawelo bear-hugging the woman and pulling her toward the rear of his truck. Louis began screaming for him to drop her. “I just started screaming, ‘Drop her! Drop her! Drop her!’” Louis said. “She was screaming for her life. She was terrified.”

Another witness, Mike Finkelstein, also yelled at the suspect to release the woman. “Let her go. I’ve called the police. I’m coming down there after you,” Finkelstein recalled shouting. Several residents rushed to the scene after hearing the commotion. They helped the 24-year-old woman break free from Kawelo’s grip.

Kawelo fled the area in his truck shortly after the neighbors intervened. Police located him a few hours later in a nearby neighborhood, where he was seen running naked. The two women reported continuing to have nightmares, while the neighborhood remained on edge following the incident.