Former Bishop Estate trustee Gerard Jervis remained in a police cellblock last night after he rammed the vehicle of four teenage boys who threw eggs at his Lanikai house, police said.

Jervis, who resigned from the Bishop Estate in disgrace in 1999, used his car to smash into the back end of the boys' car, forcing it up a cable leading to an electric pole and "risking the lives" of those inside, police said.

Jervis had a blood alcohol level of .10, police said yesterday afternoon. The legal limit is .08. He could face charges of first-degree criminal property damage and drunken driving, police said. He was arrested at 11:45 p.m. at the intersection of Aalapapa and Kaelepulu drives in Lanikai.

Police said the situation began shortly before 11 p.m. Friday with the carload of teens driving through the area and "throwing eggs at random targets."

When one of the eggs landed in his yard, Jervis got into his car and gave chase, police said.

He apparently caught up with the boys five blocks away and rear-ended their car, "causing it to collide into the cable and electric pole which propelled the front of the (boys') vehicle into the air," according to police.

"You could see it was rammed from behind," said Dawn Jenkins, a visitor from California who came upon the accident about 11:30 p.m. while the driver of the second car, apparently Jervis, was being put into a police vehicle.

"The car ran right up the wire, which was unbelievable," Jenkins said.

An egg carton could be seen on the side of the road, she said.

CHARGES PENDING

Police arrested Jervis on suspicion of first-degree criminal property damage, a felony, and operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant, a petty misdemeanor. He had not been charged as of yesterday evening.

Police said there was no damage to Jervis' house.

They said the teens involved were Saint Louis School football players.

The 17-year-old driving the teens' car was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, and two of the boys were arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor harassment in connection with the egg throwing.

Jervis was appointed one of the Bishop Estate's five trustees in 1994 and served almost five years during one of the estate's most turbulent periods.

He resigned in August 1999 because of an investigation into estate matters and his involvement in a sex scandal that made headlines across the state.

Jervis and an attorney for the estate were discovered in a compromising situation in a Waikiki hotel restroom during a time when statewide attention was focused on the handling of the estate's resources and compensation paid to the trustees.

The lawyer, Rene Kitaoka, committed suicide the following day. The next week Jervis was hospitalized for an overdose of sleeping pills, and he resigned from the estate several months later.

About the same time, two other Bishop Estate trustees resigned, and two more were removed by court action, clearing the way for a new board to be appointed the next year to oversee affairs of the multi-billion-dollar estate.

BACK TO BEING A LAWYER

Since December 1999, Jervis has been in private legal practice in Kailua, specializing in personal injury law.

"When I was appointed to the estate, I essentially stopped the practice of law," he said when he announced his new practice. "Now that I'm no longer there, I'm going back to what I am, which is a lawyer."

Most recently, he was in the news representing residents of the Kailuan housing co-op in their fight against being evicted. In February, the Hawai'i Supreme Court denied a petition from residents of the Kailuan to intervene in their case, making them the first multi-family tenants in the state to be evicted at the end of their lease term.

The owners of more than 1,500 leasehold units across the state could face a similar situation in the next decade.

Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com and Mike Leidemann at mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.