Details of hours on run still unclear

Within several hundred feet of a preschool and visitors to Kawaiaha‘o Church, escapee Teddy Munet hunkered down and hid for most of the daylight hours last week before he was caught, Munet told authorities.

The details of how he avoided detection on Kawaiaha‘o Church grounds from police and deputies remain a mystery.

State Public Safety spokes­woman Toni Schwartz said deputies searched the church grounds.

"Due to multiple leads being called in that all needed checking, more than likely, the search wasn’t as comprehensive," she said. "If you remember, there were leads taking them all over the downtown area."

Schwartz said just because Munet said he stayed in the Kawaiaha‘o Church area doesn’t mean he is telling the truth.

State corrections officials were continuing to piece together the circumstances leading to Munet’s escape from the Oahu Circuit Court loading bay Feb. 20.

Two corrections officers were reassigned to administrative duties pending an investigation into the escape of the murder suspect, and steps are being implemented by the Department of Public Safety in handling inmates during transport.

Hawaii Public Safety director Ted Sakai acknowledged Tuesday several missteps that led to Munet’s escape, which touched off a widespread lockdown of schools in the downtown area and a 12-hour search before Munet was back in custody.

Sakai said state corrections procedures call for using handcuffs, belly chains and leg shackles on all inmates being transported. But he said Munet and seven other inmates in the van that he was being transported to court in were not wearing leg shackles.

"The escape could have been prevented if shackles were put on Teddy Munet’s legs," Sakai said.

Sakai said the inmates also were supposed to be unloaded in a secured area with gates but were being unloaded in an unsecured, outdoor area.

From now on the gate to Circuit Court will be closed and locked while inmates are being unloaded, he said.

Munet was in the custody of Oahu Community Correctional Center officers who were transferring him to state sheriffs at the court, where he was scheduled for a pretrial hearing.

But Munet bolted and escaped at about 8:05 a.m. Feb. 20, running up the ramp at the transport area to Reed Lane. One of the corrections officers gave chase but could not catch him.

Dozens of law enforcement and public safety officers combed the downtown area throughout the day searching for Munet, who had been sighted at Kakaako Park and attempted a carjacking near the Circuit Court building shortly after he escaped.

Munet was caught on Wai­manu Street in Kakaako, about eight blocks from where he escaped.

He was being held in connection with the 2012 death of William Fallau, whose body was found at the Kawai­nui State Park Reserve.

Sakai said corrections officers who transport detainees are undergoing "refresher training," and he’s seeking advice from the National Institute for Corrections on improving his department’s performance.

Sakai said he’s taking steps to improve the transport of detainees after holding talks with state Public Safety and sheriff officials Monday.

Sakai said he has begun setting up meetings with state Judiciary officials to discuss the possibility of adding an automated gate as well as limiting the entrance into the inmate unloading area to law enforcement and corrections transports.

Sakai said his department is also working on putting the Sheriff Division, which handles security in state courts, and the Corrections Division, which transports prisoners to the courts from the prisons, on the same radio system.

He said a separate investigation is taking place into whether there was any wrongdoing.

Sakai said he thinks the escape was not planned, because Munet was unable to find transportation elsewhere and was caught within blocks of the escape.

"I have serious doubts it was an inside job," he said.

Honolulu police representatives were unavailable for comment.