The Honolulu prosecutor’s office is reviewing a recently completed internal police investigation into the death of Nanakuli resident Aaron Torres, who died while three police officers tried to restrain him at his family residence.
"We’re just looking at it now," spokesman Dave Koga said Thursday.
Torres’ wife, Michele, is accusing police of using excessive force and said she will pursue the allegations because she "wouldn’t want anyone to go through what I am going through."
"We had a family together … (now) I have nothing," she said.
Torres, 37, a "Hawaii Five-0" transportation captain, died in the early morning hours of Feb. 20 after police were called to his home.
Police said officers found Torres to be mentally unstable and suspected he also may have been under the influence of drugs.
Police said Torres, described as 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighing 160 pounds, lost consciousness as officers tried to restrain him to prevent him from harming himself or others.
Michele Torres said after being handcuffed, her husband was thrown to the ground by a police officer, then one officer who was a sergeant sat on his back and another officer sat on his shoulders and neck as a third officer restrained his legs.
She said she and Aaron Torres’ brother, Brian, wanted police to stop, saying their action was unnecessary.
She said his arms were being twisted and that he was shouting, "Ow, ow," and eventually he went silent.
"We kept telling them, ‘He’s not moving. … Get off of him,’" Michele Torres said.
A Honolulu Medical Examiner’s autopsy found that a contributing cause and significant condition in the death was a history of chronic cocaine abuse and that cocaine was found in Torres’ blood.
But the Medical Examiner’s Office also described the manner of death as "homicide" and that the cause of death was due to "mechanical asphyxia" or suffocation during police restraint, "due to or as a consequence of cocaine induced excited delirium."
Attorney Michael Green, who is representing Torres’ family, said the three police officers should not have taken as long as they did to restrain Torres once he was on the ground.
"It just doesn’t take a half-hour to subdue anyone," Green said.
"The guy was smothered to death. … It’s awful. They’re not trained to do this."
Koga said the prosecutor’s office received the internal report a week ago, and he doesn’t know when a finding will be made.
The three officers involved in the incident remain on duty, and the internal investigation is "standard procedure" whenever there is an officer-involved death, police spokeswoman Michelle Yu said. She declined to release further details.
Torres was sentenced to two days’ confinement and one year of probation for unrelated misdemeanor assault in 2003.
