HONOLULU (KHON2) — In less than a week, 14 hikers have been arrested and face criminal trespassing charges for hiking in the Haʻikū Stairs construction zone. Eight of those 14 were arrested Tuesday morning.
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The hikers, HPD told DLNR, reached the top of the stairs using a non-state-sectioned trail–the Middle Ridge Trail, which is illegal.
Litigation has put the deconstruction on hold but while that is being worked out in the courts, hikers continue to access the stairs, even though several modules have been removed from the hillside.
“The hikers who were arrested used ropes from the top of the Middle Ridge Trail to get down to where stairs still cling to the side of the mountain,” DLNR stated in a news release.
Officials are concerned someone will get hurt or worse.
“It is dangerous for people to enter the construction zone and dangerous for them to try to descend the ridge. They need to think about the consequences if someone gets hurt, or worse, and needs rescue. It is a difficult place for first responders to reach, which could delay medical treatment. Plus, it’s incredibly disrespectful and self-centered for anyone to be on the Ha‘ikū Stairs, or on the Middle Ridge Trail, when it’s been made abundantly clear that these areas are off-limits for safety and natural resource protection reasons. They fail to consider not only the risks they’re taking, but the risks emergency teams face when having to rescue people who are breaking the law,” DOCARE Chief Jason Redulla said.
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