Three police officers involved in last year’s shooting death of a 16-year-old crime-spree suspect following a high-speed chase through rush-hour traffic will not be disciplined by the Honolulu Police Department, following an internal investigation by its Professional Standards Office.

The decision comes 15 months after officers Geoffrey Thom, Zackary Ah Nee and Christopher Fredeluces were cleared of criminal charges.

Oahu District Court Judge William M. Domingo rejected claims in the criminal case that the trio committed murder and attempted murder in connection with the April 5, 2021, killing of Iremamber Sykap. It was the first time in more than 40 years that a Honolulu police officer was charged with murder in connection with shooting a suspect in the line of duty.

Thom was charged with second-degree murder after firing more than 10 shots into the back of the stolen vehicle, hitting Sykap eight times. Ah Nee and Fredeluces faced charges of second-degree attempted murder for firing their 9 mm Glock sidearms into the car.

Prosecutors had previously sought and failed to get an indictment against the officers for Sykap’s death.

“No disciplinary action was taken for this case. This decision follows the decisions by a grand jury and a judge not to move forward with this case,” Honolulu Police Chief Arthur “Joe” Logan told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in a statement. “Police officers are trained to protect the public, their fellow officers and themselves. The taking of another person’s life is always a last resort.”

Sykap was behind the wheel of a white Honda Civic that was stolen from Kailua and connected to a series of robberies and a home invasion. The victims told police the suspects were carrying guns.

The officers’ attorneys in the criminal case argued that the three men and the public were put in grave danger by Sykap and others in the vehicle, and that the officers began firing on the car only after repeated attempts to get the driver to pull over, telling the occupants it was “not worth it” and trying at one point to help one of the males out of the car after police boxed it in on Kalakaua Avenue.

HPD’s internal investigation focused on whether the officers violated department policies and procedures during the fatal encounter. The department did not release the findings of the administrative probe.

The conclusion of the internal investigation leaves unresolved only the matter of the wrongful death civil suit against the officers, HPD and the city.

Attorney Eric Seitz, who is representing Sykap’s grandmother, Akiwine Sykap, and mother, Yovita Lucio, maintains that witness statements and footage from the officers’ body-worn camera show the car was at a complete stop when officers standing to the side and rear of the vehicle fired into it.

Seitz told the Star- Advertiser that his team has retained an expert in police practices and the use of deadly force to help their case. John Frierson, a retired HPD corporal who worked at the department’s Ke Kula Makai training division and oversaw Fredeluces, was deposed in the civil case after a judge refused to allow him to testify for the prosecution during a six-day preliminary hearing.

Seitz called Frierson “very helpful.”

The attorney said he had not seen the findings from the internal probe but said it is “embarrassing” if HPD found no wrongdoing.

“If the cops claimed to be in jeopardy or any danger it was their own doing,” said Seitz. “There was no question there was misconduct from the start (of the police pursuit) to the finish. Shooting a kid in the back when the kid posed no threat to them?”

The police union said the conclusions of the internal investigation show the officers did what they were trained to do in the line of duty.

“Police officers are forced to make split-second decisions under dangerous conditions to protect the lives of the public, themselves and fellow officers,” said Stephen Keogh, vice president of the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers. “As the department review concluded, our officers acted according to their training during this incident and it was appropriate that they were allowed to return to work, where they can help our short-staffed department protect the public, and not be on restricted duty during the administrative investigation.

“It’s easy for critics to Monday-morning quarterback each encounter, but threats to officers and the public don’t come in slow motion — they come at full speed with dangerous consequences,” Keogh said.

The day Sykap was killed, the officers were part of the third-watch shift that was told a stolen white Honda Civic with Texas license plates was connected to a series of crimes where victims saw guns and feared for their lives.

Sykap and his alleged accomplices led officers on a high-speed pursuit from Kawaikui Beach Park near Aina Haina to Kalakaua Avenue, darting in and out of traffic, speeding through stoplights and stop signs, and hopping a median and driving into oncoming traffic.

Sykap was unarmed and it was determined he had methamphetamine in his system at the time of his death. Investigators found gunshot residue on him and the other occupants of the Honda Civic. Police recovered a replica, airsoft handgun in the front passenger side of the vehicle. A crystal methamphetamine pipe and live rounds of real ammunition were also recovered from the car.

Sykap and the occupants of the stolen car he was driving were wanted for allegedly breaking into a house on April 3, 2021, and then returning to the same house the next night and trying to steal a car.

Fredeluces’ attorney in the criminal case, Crystal Glendon, told the Star- Advertiser that the criminal and administrative investigation have been a “long ordeal for each of the three officers.”

“They were doing their job, protecting our community from a violent crime spree,” Glendon said. “Last year’s attempts by the prosecutor’s office to criminalize their conduct failed because they were meritless. First the grand jury, then the court and now the administrative review board have all agreed: These officers acted within the scope of their training, policies and procedures.

“It is my hope that officers Fredeluces, Thom and Ah Nee can soon start to close this chapter of their lives and get back to doing what they do best — serving our community and keeping us safe.”

Thom’s attorney, Thomas Otake, told the Star- Advertiser that HPD’s administrative findings “confirms what we have said all along.”

“These three excellent officers followed their training and departmental policies when they made the split- second decision to discharge their firearm to protect themselves and the public,” Otake said. “This further confirms how misguided the criminal prosecution was. How could this have been criminal, when they simply followed their training and acted to save lives?”