Over the past month, new developments on two fatal shootings by Honolulu police and one related case of alleged police brutality have stirred public emotions about right and wrong. About crossing lines that are not clearly black or white. About the very nature of justice.
Last week, after a months-long investigation into the Jan. 1 shooting death of Sidney Tafokitau, 44, city Prosecutor Steve Alm announced that deadly use of force was “justified,” given the circumstances. That finding was indisputable, despite the 23 shots that hit Tafokitau. After all, the armed suspect had put the public at risk during a nine-hour crime spree from 7:15 a.m. near Aloha Stadium, until his violent end near the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Tafokitau had 14 prior felony convictions dating to 1993, and had told a relative he would never go back to prison. The New Year’s Day violence included shooting his ex-girlfriend three times while on Moanalua Freeway, firing 15-30 rounds at police in Kalihi, stealing a vehicle at gunpoint in Kaneohe, driving into oncoming traffic on the North Shore while trying to flee, and finally, engaging in a fatal gunfight with police officers near UH-Manoa; two officers were wounded on University Avenue.
The Honolulu Police Department can certainly be faulted for not revealing the dangers to the public that day, as the islandwide manhunt unfolded. But Alm’s findings that no police officers will be charged in Tafokitau’s death are sound, bringing some measure of needed public closure.
Unfortunately, related to the Jan. 1 shooting is a murkier case — one that raises the disturbing spectre of police abuse and cover-up.
Fifteen days after the New Year’s Day drama, a lawsuit suddenly emerged, with a father and son claiming they were beaten near the university shooting site in a case of racial profiling and mistaken identity. Vaokehekehe Mataele, 49, and son Tevita Cadiente, 25, who knew Tafokitau and had rushed to the area that day, were forcibly wrestled down and handcuffed by police; they allege HPD officers used excessive force, violated their constitutional rights and accused HPD of poorly training officers. Cadiente suffered severe injuries after a police van rammed him into a chain-link fence and he was allegedly beaten.
These troubling claims are compounded by the fact that HPD did not reveal the alleged incident — even Mayor Rick Blangiardi was blindsided — until the lawsuit was announced.
Alm last week was mostly mum about the suit, saying only that HPD had concluded its criminal investigation into the beatings of Mataele and Cadiente, and forwarded findings to prosecutors. Meanwhile, the lawsuit’s civil trial has been delayed until 2026 — a frustrating situation due to certain discovery conditions and deadlines that couldn’t be met, their attorney claims.
That cloud of justice delayed being justice denied looms heavily over another police killing: After three years, the 2021 tragic shooting death of 29-year-old Lindani Myeni in Nuuanu remains, unconscionably, unresolved.
The city had a clear path for case closure as recently as last month — but made the misguided decision to let it drag on. That prolongs the pain for everyone involved, and could well end up costing the city more than $1.5 million, the amount proposed to Myeni’s widow and two young children.
On Nov. 7, the City Council folded under pressure and scuttled the settlement proposal; dozens of uniformed police officers had appeared at its decision-making meetings. Though police officers were criminally cleared in the fatal shooting of Myeni, a former South African athlete, the city was sued for wrongful death in the controversial case that sparked scrutiny over that night’s circumstances, including whether officers had properly identified themselves.
Given the relatively modest city sum involved and the tragedy of this complicated case, it’s a shame the city did not do the humane thing and settle. Instead, considerable time, effort and pain will be poured into a trial that could run for more than a month.
Fatal shootings, sadly, are real risks in the dangerous job of policing, inherent each and every day. Some shootings, though, are more clearly “justified” than others.
