Prosecutors reviewing 7 shootings by Honolulu police officers

Honolulu prosecutors are reviewing evidence to determine whether criminal charges are warranted in seven police shootings over the last two years, six of which ended with officers killing a suspect.

The shootings happened between Nov. 12, 2019, and Aug. 27, 2021, according to police. Three of the shootings happened in Kalihi, two in Kapolei, one in Kailua and one in Kaneohe. In four of the seven cases, HPD’s Professional Standards Office investigations are complete, while the remaining investigations are ongoing.

The department did not specify what, if any, administrative action was taken following the four completed probes.

Prosecuting Attorney Steve Alm’s office is reviewing evidence gathered by Honolulu police officers in connection with the fatal shootings of Michael Kahalehoe on Nov. 12, 2019; Dana Brown on Dec. 17, 2019; Dallas Pearce on Jan. 2, 2020; Caillen Gentzler on Dec. 28, 2020; Elia Laeli on Aug. 11; and Brandon Ventura on Aug. 27.

Autopsy results are pending in the Ventura and Laeli cases.

Alm’s office is also reviewing evidence in the case of Dion Kitzmiller, who was shot and critically wounded May 25 after he allegedly pointed a handgun at officers who were trying to arrest him for two separate outstanding warrants for abuse of a family or household member, terroristic threatening and firearm offenses.

HPD traditionally sent its files from investigations of shootings by police to the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney upon completion. At Alm’s request, police began providing case materials to prosecutors on a “periodic basis” throughout the investigation, according to HPD.

In addition to Alm’s office, all fatal officer-involved shootings are reviewed by the Hawaii Law Enforcement Officer Independent Review Board. The review board is a seven-member panel created by law to review police shootings in Hawaii to determine if criminal prosecution is warranted.

Its findings are public but its proceedings and reports are confidential and nonbinding.

Interim HPD Chief Rade Vanic told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser the training module that requires the largest investment of hours at Ke Kula Maka‘i, the department’s training academy in Waipahu, is the curriculum on use of force.

“The last thing that officers want to do when they come to work is to use force, but unfortunately that’s part of the job. Our officers are trained to de-escalate first, and then, if force is necessary, to use the appropriate level of force,” Vanic said. “Our officers are committed. They come into work every day and they put their lives on the line to keep the public safe. And sometimes that means having to use force against someone, especially when force is used against them.”

HPD regularly reviews and updates all policies, and officers “understand and take very seriously the consequences of using deadly force to resolve a situation,” Vanic said.

When all attempts to calm a situation fail, officers rely on use-of-force scenario training and repeated lessons in the appropriate levels of force to react in an “objectively reasonable” manner given the circumstances of the moment, Vanic said.

Four of the seven police shootings under review occurred before Alm was sworn in. For those cases that predated him, the office will conduct an independent review once the reports are received from HPD, according to Matt Dvonch, special counsel to the Prosecuting Attorney. If necessary, prosecutors will independently interview or re-interview witnesses and conduct further investigation before coming to a decision.

There is no specific timeline for review of shootings that occurred prior to Alm’s tenure, Dvonch said.

“Independent investigation of officer-involved shootings is critical for building public trust in the criminal justice system. While we recognize that HPD has many fine investigators, whenever the agency involved in an officer-involved shooting investigates itself, questions inevitably arise about the impartiality of the investigation,” Dvonch said.

“For example, if one of our own investigators were involved in a shooting, we would not investigate the matter ourselves. We would refer the matter to the Attorney General’s office for investigation and, if appropriate, prosecution. Conducting independent investigations of all officer-involved shootings will give the public confidence that these matters are being investigated fairly and impartially.”

State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers President Malcolm Lutu said the prosecutor’s review of the shootings is welcome to help confirm officers’ proper use of deadly force in each incident.

“No one ever wants to be involved in a critical incident. It’s hard on the victim’s family. It’s hard on the officer’s family. And it’s hard on the officer,” Lutu said. “The knowledge of taking a life? Our officers who have done it have to go through a process for the rest of their lives because of that critical incident.”

In some of the cases, the families of the victims are engaged in litigation and seeking damages from the city for what they describe as an unnecessary use of deadly force. There are significant differences between what attorneys representing the families allege and what police say happened during the fatal confrontations.

Brown, 27, was shot and killed Dec. 17, 2019, after he brandished a knife and lunged at a patrol officer who was trying to pull him over for driving the wrong way on a stolen moped in Campbell Industrial Park.

His family’s attorney alleges that police body-worn camera footage revealed that Brown was holding the moped’s handlebars, not a knife, when the officer fired three times, killing him shortly after 10:40 p.m.

At one point Brown got off the moped and a patrol officer chased him on foot, according to HPD. Brown tried to re-start the moped while brandishing a knife, ignoring officers’ orders to stop. Brown was hit with a Taser twice, but he continued to try to escape. As an officer approached to arrest him, Brown lunged at him with the knife and the officer shot and killed him, according to an account of the incident provided by former Police Chief Susan Ballard in December 2019.

On April 23, attorney Megan Kau sent a letter to Alm asking that he review the case to determine if it should be prosecuted. Kau cited body-worn camera footage showing the officer swearing four times at Brown to get on the ground before saying, “I going shoot you.” He repeatedly tells Brown to put the knife down, according to Kau.

Brown had put down the moped seat and tried to start it when the officer shot and killed him, she wrote in her letter to Alm.

A little more than a year later, on Dec. 28, 2020, Gentzler, 45, was shot and killed when he tried to drive away from police attempting to arrest him in Kaneohe in connection with parole violations. According to a lawsuit against HPD and the city seeking damages that was filed by Honolulu attorney Eric Seitz, Gentzler reversed his Jeep Grand Cherokee out of a parking stall then drove into a parked car.

Officers ordered him out of the vehicle before shooting with no warning, according to the complaint filed on behalf of Gentzler’s family.

Police said Gentzler reversed in a way that forced plainclothes officers to jump out of the way before driving toward them. Body-worn cameras are not yet deployed to plainclothes officers, so no police footage of the incident is available.

Gentzler had five children and four stepchildren. At time of his death, his youngest child was 5 years old.

“Despite a few bad choices, he didn’t deserve to die,” his wife, Monica Gentzler, told the Star-Advertiser in April. “My 5-year-old, Sparkle, started her first day at school and my husband always wanted to be there for that special day, and knowing that he’ll never be able to see her grow up just brings a pain that not everyone can understand.”

The city’s response did not mention the incident and asserted that “Police Officers acted lawfully and properly in the execution of his/her duties as authorized by the Hawaii Penal Code and Hawaii Revised Statutes.”

Kahalehoe’s family also filed a lawsuit against HPD and the city Oct. 26 claiming five plainclothes officers without body-worn cameras “did not employ any conflict de-escalation or intervention techniques, did not wait for any backup officers to arrive in uniform driving marked police vehicles, and did not have or use any intermediate-force weapons before resorting to deadly force,” according to the complaint.

In 2020, 859,164 of the 991,016 calls to 911 — about 86% — were for police services, according to HPD. From 2015 to 2019, force was used in less than 1% of all incidents resulting in a police report, according to a February presentation to the Honolulu Police Commission.

HPD’s use-of-force policy was updated April 1 in response to a nationwide policing shift after the May 25, 2020, murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. The changes are similar to federal standards the U.S. Department of Justice cites when pushing state and county law enforcement agencies to update their policies.

It includes a revision to when officers may shoot into vehicles, clarifying that the threat has to go beyond just the car.

“HPD is our closest partner, and we continue to work together closely to investigate and prosecute crimes,” Dvonch said. “Because of our close relationship, in an ideal world the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney would not be the agency conducting independent investigations into officer-involved shootings. A truly independent agency, one not beholden to our office, HPD, the Attorney General, or the U.S. Attorney, and staffed by experienced investigators and prosecutors, would be best able to investigate these cases. Such an agency does not yet exist, and there does not appear to be one on the horizon.”

In the meantime, the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney is the best equipped to investigate these matters, he said.

Vanic said HPD investigators and city prosecutors “work together every day to pursue justice and the truth.”

“This applies to all cases regardless of who is involved,” he said. “We want to make sure the officers are well-trained and well-equipped to do the best job they can.”