Police were investigating a report of an attempted kidnapping of a girl yesterday morning in Waipahu.

The girl told investigators she was walking on Aiki Street at 7 a.m. when a man in a white Ford van offered her a ride, then tried to pull her into the van.

The girl was able to break free and run to a friend's house.

The man was described as about 5 feet 8 and 130 to 150 pounds, and was wearing a white T-shirt and jeans covered with dirt.

It was the second reported attempted kidnapping of a girl in recent weeks.

On Sept. 17, a man tried to force a girl into an isolated area on Anania Drive in Mililani at 7 a.m.

Police have made no arrests.

Honolulu CrimeStoppers released a sketch of the suspect in the Waipahu case. Anyone with information can call Honolulu CrimeStoppers at 955-8300 or *CRIME on a cellular phone.

KALIHI STABBING VICTIM IDENTIFIED

A 41-year-old woman who was stabbed to death Tuesday outside a Kalihi apartment building was identified yesterday as Chong Suk Waraksa.

Waraksa was stabbed multiple times in the chest area and died as a result of her injuries, the city medical examiner's office said.

The 42-year-old Salt Lake man who allegedly stabbed Waraksa died a short time later when his truck hit a concrete wall in Salt Lake. Witnesses told police it appeared the man drove into the wall on purpose. Police opened a murder-suicide investigation.

Police said the man was a patron at a Kalihi bar, the Black Stallion, where Waraksa worked.

OFF-DUTY OFFICER'S CAR HIJACKED

A McCully man was arrested yesterday on suspicion of robbing an off-duty police officer of his car at gunpoint.

The off-duty officer had gone to a Kanakanui Street location in Kalihi Kai at the request of a woman relative who was being threatened by her son, police said.

The son, 31, who is a felon with 17 criminal convictions, was reportedly high on drugs when he allegedly pointed a 9 mm pistol at the officer, demanded the keys to his vehicle and drove off, police said.

The officer reported the robbery at 4:43 p.m.

The suspect was arrested at 4:57 p.m. on H-1 Freeway's eastbound lanes near the Gulick Avenue overpass. He was booked for investigation of first-degree robbery, first-degree terroristic threatening, and two warrants totalling $66,000 for violations of restraining orders.

WOMAN, 84, DRAGGED BY CAR

An 84-year-old woman who was trying to get a parking ticket at the Restaurant Row parking garage was dragged 20 to 25 feet yesterday morning by her car and was taken to The Queen's Medical Center in serious condition.

The woman, entering the garage about 10 a.m., apparently could not reach the ticket and got partially out of her car when "it dragged her along, pinning her against her car" and a concrete island that supports the parking ticket machine, said Bryan Cheplic, spokesman for the city emergency services department.

WAREHOUSE FIRE DAMAGE AT $35K

The Honolulu Fire Department yesterday estimated damage caused by Tuesday night's fire at an Aloha International Moving Services warehouse at Campbell Industrial Park at $25,000 to the building and $10,000 to contents.

HFD spokesman Capt. Terry Seelig said the cause of the 9 p.m. fire was under investigation, but that the fire started in crates loaded with blankets used by the moving company.

TAX COLLECTIONS HIGHER THAN 2006

State revenue collections have slowed but are still coming in 6.7 percent higher than last year through the first three months of the fiscal year, the state Department of Taxation reported.

The state collected $368.7 million in September, which was down from August and July, but still ahead of last year.

General excise and use taxes came in at $167 million in September, 6.7 percent higher than after the first three months of last year.

Hotel room taxes came in at $14.9 million in September, up 3.4 percent over the previous year. Individual income taxes came in at $153.9 million in September, up 4.8 percent. Corporate income taxes were at $20.8 million in September, up 19.8 percent.

The state's revenue collections will influence state lawmakers when they consider budget and spending decisions next session.

CENTRAL PACIFIC BRANCH ROBBED

The Central Pacific Bank branch at Waikiki Shopping Plaza was robbed yesterday by a man who handed a demand note to a teller.

No weapon was seen and there were no injuries reported in the 3:25 p.m. robbery at 2250 Kalakaua Ave.

Police did not release any surveillance photo or description of the suspect, but The Advertiser learned the robber is about 6 feet tall and was wearing a distinctive cowboy hat.

The man fled with an undisclosed amount of cash.

COFFEE TO ASSIST MCCAIN IN ISLES

U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has picked up some Island support for his campaign for the GOP presidential nomination.

Jerry Coffee, who like McCain was a prisoner of war in Vietnam, will join state Rep. Gene Ward, R-17th (Kalama Valley, Queen's Gate, Hawai'i Kai), and state Rep. Kymberly Pine, R-43rd ('Ewa Beach, Iroquois Point, Pu'uloa) to announce their backing of the senator at a news conference this morning at the Korean and Vietnam War Memorial near the state Capitol.

Coffee will serve as honorary chairman for McCain in Hawai'i. Ward, a Vietnam veteran, and Pine, whose husband is in the Navy, will be co-chairs.

Pine said McCain's Navy experience, and his reputation as an independent on many public-policy issues, fits Hawai'i well.

"He's been a maverick, in a sense, on a lot of political issues," Pine said.