Man dead after airport incident identified as Valley Isle man, 48

A man who died after becoming unresponsive while in custody after breaching security at Honolulu Airport was identified by a family member as 48-year-old Charles Kosi, according to a TV report.

Ryan Tuzon, who lives on Maui, confirmed the man who died was his brother, according to the KHON2 report.

Kosi’s stepmother referred the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s questions about Kosi to his father, who did not return a phone call.

The state Department of Transportation said the suspect used force to make his way past security at the exit of a checkpoint in the Island Air and Mokulele Airlines commuter terminal at about 5:50 a.m. Saturday. The man made it out of the building through a secured door that leads to a walkway for passengers heading to the planes when security grabbed him “seconds” after he made it past the security checkpoint, said DOT spokesman Tim Sakahara.

Sakahara said the suspect was combative and struggled with security after being detained, then became unresponsive. Authorities performed lifesaving measures, and the suspect was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office said Sunday night the man had not been positively identified and that identification would not occur until Tuesday at the earliest.

A Securitas security guard who sustained head injuries during the altercation was released from the hospital Saturday afternoon, according to Sakahara. The guard’s name and the hospital were not disclosed.

Alexander Silvert, first assistant federal public defender, said Sunday he did not know whether Kosi was the man involved in the airport incident. But Silvert, who represented Kosi in a federal drug case, said Kosi was placed at the Sand Island Treatment Center on Feb. 7. About a week later Kosi left the program in violation of conditions of supervised release set by the court, according to Silvert. He said he received a message from Kosi saying that he left the facility but was going to turn himself in.

Silvert said he didn’t know why Kosi would have gone to the airport. He said the Maui man was struggling with a methamphetamine addiction that he was trying to overcome. Kosi was involved in two other drug treatment programs, Hina Mauka and Po‘ailani, before Sand Island.

Silvert said the incident seemed out of character for Kosi, whom he described as a “very interesting guy, nice guy, smart.”

Kosi was sentenced to almost 12 years in prison for methamphetamine in May 2006 and given five years of supervised release.

He was sent back to prison in November 2015 for six months after his supervised release was revoked.

Kosi had 35 state convictions on his record for a variety of offenses, including gambling, escape, assault on a police officer, resisting arrest, driving without a license, reckless driving and car theft.