An unarmed 16-year-old boy killed by police last month was shot in the back of the head and shoulders at least four times, according to hospital records, his family’s attorney said Thursday.
Eric A. Seitz, who is representing Iremamber Sykap’s grandmother Akiwine Sykap and mother, Yovita Lucio, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that hospital records from The Queen’s Medical Center, where Sykap was taken after Emergency Medical Services personnel transported him from Kalakaua Avenue, show he was shot once in the back of the head, twice in the back of one shoulder and once in the back of his other shoulder. EMS technicians reported no signs of life when they attempted to resuscitate Sykap, Seitz said.
Seitz filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city and the officers who shot Iremamber Sykap.
The Honolulu Department of the Medical Examiner has not released an official cause of death or autopsy report despite a request made more than a month ago, Seitz said.
HPD declined to release any footage to Seitz or the media from the April 5 shooting of Sykap, who was killed, police said, after he drove a stolen Honda Civic at officers on Kalakaua Avenue following a crime spree.
But video evidence from an officer’s body-worn camera that was leaked to Hawaii News Now shows the car was at a complete stop when officers standing to the side and rear of the vehicle fired into it, killing Sykap as he sat behind the wheel.
Separate investigations into each shooting are ongoing by police and investigators with the office of the Prosecuting Attorney.
“On the mainland, whether they release the information or not, some jurisdictions call the family in and brief them on what they have,” said Seitz, who has five other wrongful death lawsuits pending against HPD and the city. “It’s done for the very humane purpose of telling the family what happened.”
