Puna Standoff Suspect Charged

Dasa Sivam. Courtesy photo.

By Wendy Osher

Big Island police have charged a man in connection with a standoff in Puna on Monday.

Dasa Sivam, 64, of Glenwood was charged with criminal trespass, promoting a detrimental drug, and two counts of  first degree terroristic threatening.

Patrol officers responded to a home in the Fern Forrest subdivision on Monday morning when reports surfaced that a man had allegedly threatened his neighbors with a machete.

According to police reports, when officers arrived, the suspect barricaded himself inside his house and claimed to have a machine gun.

When the suspect emerged from the home more than seven hours later, a confrontation ensued, authorities said.

Police say an officer from a special response team suffered minor injuries when a stairway he was standing on collapsed during the incident.

Sivam was being held at the Hilo police cell-block pending his initial court appearance on Thursday afternoon.