Police body-worn camera footage played in court Wednesday shows Officer Geoffrey Thom standing upright, firing shot after shot at the back of a white Honda Civic, striking the 16-year-old driver eight times and killing him.
A Honolulu deputy prosecutor entered the video as evidence during a hearing to determine whether there is probable cause to support murder and attempted murder charges against three officers — Thom, Zackary Ah Nee and Christopher Fredeleuces — involved in the fatal shooting of Iremamber Sykap on April 5.
Officer Chanel Price, who was involved in the pursuit and drew her weapon but did not fire, activated her body-worn camera and its footage shows Thom shooting at the car.
The 42-year-old Thom, a five-year HPD veteran, charged with second-degree murder, struck the teen eight out of the 10 times he fired, once in the back of the head and another to the neck.
As the video played in the courtroom Wednesday, Thom turned to look at the courtroom gallery.
A judge has been listening to testimony over three days to decide whether there is a reasonable basis for believing that a crime may have been committed and that the case can go forward to trial.
Ah Nee, 26, charged with second-degree attempted murder, is shown in his body-cam footage as apparently opening the stopped car’s passenger-side door and aiming his 9 mm handgun into the car where the passenger, Mark Sykap, Iremamber Sykap’s older brother, is seated.
Ah Nee and Fredeleuces are accused of firing into the vehicle.
Fredeluces, 40, with 10 years at the Honolulu Police Department and charged with second-degree attempted murder, did not activate his body-worn camera during the shooting.
As testified to by Lt. Brandon Nakasone of the Professional Standards Office, the camera should have been activated.
Nakasone testified Mark Sykap had a bullet in his shoulder, but that it has not been recovered.
The preliminary hearing, begun July 20, will resume Aug. 17 at 1:30 p.m. at Honolulu District Court before Judge William Domingo, who will determine whether the case will go to trial.
The case was originally presented to an Oahu grand jury, which did not indict the officers. Honolulu Prosecutor Steven Alm filed charges June 15 against the officers.
If convicted, all three face a mandatory life sentence with the possibility of parole.
Ah Nee’s attorney, Thomas Otake insisted on the deputy prosecutor playing the video, which he has entered into evidence, where, prior to the shooting, Thom and Fredeleuces, riding together in a patrol car, respond to a call at Kawaikui Beach Park where the stolen Honda with Texas license plates is spotted and the pursuit that follows.
The call comes minutes after an alleged home invasion where guns are used on Isenberg Street, and the vehicle was also allegedly involved in a Waikiki purse snatching and an armed robbery.
Fredeleuces says, “Gun, gun.”
But Thom says, “No gun. That’s a phone. They’re trying to record us.”
In the video, they say they are traveling at speeds of up to 70 mph on Kalanianaole Highway. They use their loudspeaker system to order the suspects to pull over.
Price, who followed in the pursuit, testified in response to defense questioning, that the suspects were traveling at 60 mph in residential areas such as Date, Lime and Fern streets.
The pursuit comes to a halt when the Honda jumps the median on Kalakaua Avenue near Philip Street.
Thom’s attorney, Richard Sing, questioned Price, asking why she drew her sidearm when she exited her vehicle, behind Thom.
“It’s a high-risk traffic stop. It’s a felony,” she said.
“Dangerous?” he asks.
“Yes, and then the knowledge that they possibly have firearms,” she said.
Sing then asked whether she could see Fredeleuces when the vehicle started to move forward.
“I believe he was at the front of the vehicle on the driver’s side,” she said.
Sing asked whether she thought he was in danger when the vehicle moved forward, to which she said yes.
But when Deputy Prosecutor Christopher Van Marter asked to clarify whether Fredeleuces was next to the driver’s side window or in front of the car, she agrees he is next to the window, as a photo from her body cam video showed.
Price’s video appears to show the Honda at a complete stop, and only after Thom fired 10 shots did the vehicle move forward, and to the right and into a canal.
In previous police evidence specialists testimony, a BB gun was found on the floor of the front passenger seat of the Honda and a gunlike device used as a prop that fires blanks was found.
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The Associated Press contributed to this story.