The Honolulu City Council on Wednesday voted unanimously to approve a $3 million settlement to end a lawsuit brought by a man injured severely when his motorcycle was struck by an on-duty Honolulu Police Department officer’s car in 2014.
The incident left Haibo “Bobby” Peng with multiple injuries to his spine, skull, nose, lungs and legs that have resulted in more than $50,000 in medical and rehabilitation bills, more than $31,000 in lost wages and “extreme pain, suffering, severe emotional distress and mental anguish, anxiety (and) loss of enjoyment of life …,” the 2015 lawsuit said.
On Oct. 15, 2014, Peng was heading east on Kalakaua Avenue, just east of the Ala Wai Boulevard intersection where there is a tree-lined median, when he collided with a Ford Fusion driven by officer Jeremy Newman.
Newman “made an unsignaled, erratic attempt to make a U-turn into the oncoming lane of Kalakaua” that led to the collision, the lawsuit said. Newman “did not have his lights or siren activated, and he made the careless maneuver crossing directly across two lanes of traffic.”
R. Aaron Creps, who represented Peng, said his
client no longer can work his two jobs as a licensed massage therapist and “at this point, is disabled from working.” Additionally, “he’s going to need significant medical care through the
future for his injuries,” Creps said.
Chief Susan Ballard, in a statement, said that while accidents can and do happen, “officers are trained to avoid maneuvers based on traffic conditions that may cause injury to someone else.”
HPD’s own investigation into the incident “showed that our officer acted in
error, causing serious and significant injury to a member of the public,” Ballard said. “As a result, action was taken against the officer which included driver retraining.”
Newman, now a 10-year veteran, works in a non-patrol assignment with HPD’s Narcotics and Vice Division.
Corporation Counsel Donna Leong, in a statement, said both the officer and Peng share some
responsibility.
“This case highlights the importance of wearing a helmet when riding a motorcycle and the serious consequences that can
result when a helmet is not worn,” Leong said. “Unfortunately, the law does not allow the courts to consider a rider’s decision not to wear a helmet in these types of cases.”
Given the circumstances of the case and the high costs to defend the city, “the settlement is in the best
interests of the city,” Leong said.
Creps said the case was not about whether motorcyclists should wear helmets. “This case is about an officer who thought he was above the law and chose to abuse his police powers and seriously hurt a member of the public,” he said. “We’ve seen these kinds of incidents too much in the media over the last few years and we hope that with the new police chief and administration, abuses of police power will no longer be tolerated.”
