Fox News Flash top headlines for February 17
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A Hawaiian man accused of assaulting a woman and a police officer allegedly beat a homeless woman to death in front of a police station in a random attack upon being freed when prosecutors declined to charge him in connection with the initial attack, authorities said.
Michael Kalama Armstrong, 35, was arrested Tuesday in front of the Honolulu Police Department's Kapolei Station after the deadly attack on suspicion of second-degree murder, authorities said. Sources told Fox News the woman was beaten with a tree trunk.
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A bloody tree trunk on the grass outside the Kapolei police station in Hawaii. A woman was allegedly beaten to death outside the police station Tuesday by a man accused of assaulting a woman and police officer the night before, authorities said. (Honolulu Police Department)
The 48-year-old victim was taken to a hospital where she died, police said. Authorities said it appeared Armstrong and the victim, who was not identified, did not know each other.
The attack occurred feet from the front doors of the police station soon after he was released pending an investigation into a violent incident the night before in which he allegedly attacked a woman and a responding officer, police said.
That incident began when an officer was called to a group home after reports that one of the residents had assaulted a worker.
As the officer was speaking with the worker, a suspect "blind sided" him and punched him in the face, according to authorities. The officer turned around and hit the suspect in an effort to defend himself and the suspect fell to the ground and lost consciousness, authorities said.
The coastline of Honolulu, Hawaii. (iStock)
The officer tended to the suspect when he began to regain consciousness, police said. Both were treated at a local hospital and released. The suspect was arrested.
Authorities said the suspect had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and was recently released from a hospital that specializes in behavioral healthcare.
In response to Armstrong's release from police custody, critics blasted Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Steve Alm for not keeping him locked up.
"A woman was brutally beaten to death because the prosecuting attorney refused to hold a violent criminal, who had just physically assaulted a uniformed police officer, behind bars," Robert Cavaco, president of the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers (SHOPO), said in a statement.
Kapolei Police Station (Google Maps)
"This suspect was arrested 18 previous times prior to assaulting a uniformed police officer and then going out of the police station and savagely murdering an innocent woman," he added. "The prosecuting attorney's office needs to do their job and work to protect our community and not simply look out for the suspect but unfortunately this is a recurring pattern."
In a statement to Fox News. Alm said Armstrong was released because investigators planned to visit the scene of the initial crime at the same time of night "to look at the lighting, the positioning of the individuals when the assault occurred, and other details" to determine whether a felony charge of assaulting a police officer was warranted."
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"We did not want to immediately charge Armstrong with a misdemeanor because he would have gone to court the next day and likely pled guilty, which would have foreclosed us from later charging him with felony assault of the HPD officer if the follow-up investigation showed such a charge was appropriate," Alm said. "If he had been charged with a misdemeanor and pled guilty, he would likely have faced very little consequence, if any, for his actions."
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