A German reality TV couple said they got a rude welcome to Hawaii when a state quarantine worker at Honolulu Airport tried to stop them from removing their 125-pound Great Dane from her crate.
In the December incident, quarantine workers wheeled a large plywood crate containing Konrad and Manuela Reimann’s dog, Phoebie, onto the sidewalk outside the airport animal quarantine holding facility.
It was up to the 60-year-old man and his 47-year-old wife to somehow get the crate with the dog inside, weighing 300 pounds total, onto the bed of their rental pickup truck.
A crew from German TV channel RTL2 was filming the couple’s move from Gainesville, Texas, to Honolulu and captured the action as Konrad Reimann began unlatching the crate, and a quarantine worker said he could not let the dog out while on airport property since it is close to the runway.
“Do you know how heavy that is?” Reimann asked. He then continued unlatching it as the worker tried to relatch it.
In the end, the couple managed to get the dog out of the crate and into the truck cab.
Konrad Reimann’s attorney, Earle Partington, said airport security talked to the couple and told them to forget about the incident. But in April, he was served with a penal summons to appear Wednesday in Honolulu District Court.
Reimann arrived with his wife to answer a complaint alleging harassment, a petty misdemeanor, against the worker, Caridad Leiva.
Partington and the deputy prosecutor met in chambers with Judge Gerald Kibe. He was shown the Reimanns’ video but wanted an unedited version, Partington said. The deputy prosecutor asked for more time to obtain airport surveillance video. Leiva alleges Reimann elbowed her in the face, which he maintains did not happen.
A hearing is scheduled in six weeks.
A Department of Agriculture spokeswoman said it is airport policy that animals are not allowed to be removed from their crates on airport property.
“They should be prepared for big animals,” Manuela Reimann said. The couple would like to see a policy change, suggesting workers turn over leashed dogs to owners in a safe pickup area.
