A grand jury has declined to indict a Honolulu police sergeant who was captured on video apparently punching his girlfriend.

David Hayakawa, attorney for the girlfriend, Deberah Aton, said the grand jury watched various videos of the incident and heard testimony from numerous people, including Aton, who is the bar manager, and others working that night at Kuni’s Restaurant and Lounge in Waipahu.

"We’re just very thankful that a complete investigation was conducted, and that a grand jury realized the obvious — that this was just two people playing around," Hayakawa said. "There’s no cover-up here."

Hayakawa said Aton has said from early on that the couple were horseplaying. She testified before the grand jury Wednesday on behalf of her boyfriend, Sgt. Darren Cachola.

In one video shown to the grand jury, but not seen publicly, the couple are seen joking around, clearly laughing, and taking off their shoes, Hayakawa said. In the video, he said, the couple are seen walking in the kitchen and Aton is jokingly pushing Cachola.

The woman takes off her high heels and she throws the first blow.

Then the snippet that was sent to media kicks in, showing Cachola apparently pummeling Aton.

Hayakawa said Cachola was acting like he was throwing body punches, but wasn’t making contact.

He said Aton went to police two days later and underwent a two-hour interview. She allowed a full-body inspection and no mark on her body was found, he said.

Hayakawa said Aton has been kickboxing for 15 years and engages in full-contact sparring.

"She essentially wanted him to spar with her," he said.

Cachola’s attorney, Howard Luke, said his client is "relieved for himself and his family, and also for the alleged victim in this case because he was concerned that all the facts may not have been presented to the grand jury."

He said the evidence presented seems to have been comprehensive and included everything relevant to the charge.

"The prosecutor’s office did its due diligence," Luke said. "This case was highly controversial. Initial reactions from the first video that was televised were such that the prosecutor’s office felt it was necessary, and justifiably so, … to present this to an independent body from the community to make their own determination as to what the facts were in this case, as well as whether those facts constituted a criminal offense."

He added, "The members of the grand jury did the right thing."

Luke said the allegations have taken a toll on his client.

"He certainly has been, aside from being grateful, felt chastised by this whole incident," Luke said. "He realizes even though there was no assault in this case, probably he used poor judgment in engaging in this activity that eventually led to this investigation."

Hayakawa said police are aggressive about domestic violence cases, but that no one in this case said anyone was assaulted when officers arrived at the scene.

"The officers responded," Hayakawa said. "They talked to whoever called the police and they said it was nothing."

The police probe was triggered when surveillance footage surfaced last month showing the sergeant apparently punching his girlfriend at the restaurant.

Police turned the case over to prosecutors, saying there wasn’t enough evidence for any charges.

Luke said neither he nor Cachola has been told whether the prosecutor will pursue any criminal charges against his client.

"I take any kind of domestic abuse very, very seriously, but it doesn’t mean that it happens in every single case that is investigated," he said.

Defense lawyer Victor Bakke said it is unusual for a misdemeanor case to be brought before a grand jury, which primarily decides felony cases, and it appeared the prosecutor did it to deflect any blame for not charging Cachola with abuse.

Bakke said that if any detractors were to criticize Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro for failure to prosecute Cachola, he could point to the grand jury and say, "Don’t look at me. They made the decision."

Sen. Will Espero, chairman of the Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs Committee, said: "For the vast majority of people who saw that one segment of the video where the officer was attacking the girlfriend, many of those individuals are not going to understand how the grand jury did not indict him.

"The decision appears to follow HPD’s determination not to press charges as well," he said.

"I believe a lot of people don’t understand how this decision was made and probably many are going to be angry and upset and even lose confidence in law enforcement," he said.

Espero held a briefing on domestic violence Sept. 30, in which Police Chief Louis Kealoha offered to show the videos involving Cachola and his girlfriend to legislators.

Espero suggested the videos be shown to legislators in private. The next day Deputy Chief Dave Kajihiro told him the Police Department was advised against showing the videos, despite having been given prior permission to do so, he said.

Kealoha said police are continuing an administrative investigation of Cachola, as well as the officers and their supervisor, who did not file a report after responding to the alleged domestic violence call at Kuni’s.

"We’re going to look at the entire incident, and we’re going to match it up to see what policy or standard of conduct violations occurred."

Kealoha said the investigation might take up to several months, and could result in discipline ranging from a written reprimand to suspensions to dismissal.

Cachola remains without police powers, an HPD spokeswoman said.

The prosecutor’s office would not comment as grand jury proceedings are secret.