The family of a teen permanently injured in a September 2021 Makaha car chase by Honolulu Police Department officers has filed a federal lawsuit alleging the HPD’s pursuit policy is defective.
Eric Seitz, attorney for the parents of Dayton Gouveia, who was 14 on the morning of the crash, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in an interview that after two mediation sessions and a settlement conference, the city offered nothing to his clients.
“They refuse to settle or pay us a nickel … in one of the most horrendous cases in the history of the Police Department,” said Seitz. “The mayor, the police chief, the corporation counsel, the prosecutor … simply don’t care about what happened to Dayton Gouveia.”
Gouveia was paralyzed for months from the neck down, and doctors estimate the health care services he will need throughout his life will cost about $7 million. Gouveia’s intermittent care is currently paid by Medicaid, and his parents are stretched thin, Seitz said.
Honolulu Corporation Counsel Dana M.O. Viola told the Star-Advertiser in a statement that the city is reviewing the complaint.
“Regarding the state civil suit, with assistance of the state court and a mediator, the Department of Corporation Counsel (COR) has engaged in negotiations with the Plaintiffs. However, the parties did not reach an agreement,” said Viola. “COR is continuing to litigate this matter in the best interests of the City.”
The complaint filed in federal court Monday alleges that HPD’s motor vehicle pursuit policy is “defective in that it gives officers sole discretion to initiate a pursuit” and it “fails to adequately instruct officers when a pursuit should not be initiated or discontinued.”
The policy is “deliberately indifferent” to the risks of death and injury and property damage by “the public and subjects being pursued,” according to the complaint.
Seitz said he filed the federal civil complaint in part because a trial date for his client in state court is not available until September 2024. The civil action names Mayor Rick Blangiardi, Honolulu Police Chief Arthur “Joe” Logan, Deputy Chief Rade Vanic, Prosecuting Attorney Steve Alm, Viola, the four HPD officers charged with crimes in the case, and the city.
“There are underlying and more serious civil rights violations that we thought we wouldn’t need to bring to litigate in order to resolve this case,” Seitz said. “But the entire way that the Police Department went about this, chasing after these guys, at the discretion of a police officer, not using their sirens and lights, never calling in the chase to get authority … the regulation and their training doesn’t require them to do any of those things. It’s defective, and therefore people get hurt and killed. We’ve decided we have no choice but to take on the larger questions because we can’t get any relief for our client any other way.”
HPD and the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney declined comment.
The four HPD officers charged by the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney in connection with chase, crash and alleged cover-up are scheduled to go to trial in the criminal case Dec. 18.
Officers Joshua J.S. Nahulu, 37; Erik X.K. Smith, 25; Jake R.T. Bartolome, 35; and Robert G. Lewis III, whose age has not been disclosed, have all entered not-guilty pleas.
Nahulu’s attorney, Richard Sing, and Lewis’ attorney, Benjamin R.C. Ignacio, declined comment.
Bartolome’s attorney, Pedric T. Arrisgado, and Smith’s attorney, Doris D. Lum, did not immediately reply to requests for comment from the Star-Advertiser.
The department has disciplined each officer, but because of the collective bargaining agreement with the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers, what the officers got won’t be public until HPD submits its annual discipline report to the state Legislature in January.
Nahulu is charged with collisions involving death or serious bodily injury for allegedly causing the crash near the corner of Farrington Highway and Orange Street that paralyzed Gouveia and left the driver of a white 2000 four-door Honda Civic, Jonaven Perkins-Sinapati, with a traumatic brain injury.
Nahulu faces a Class B felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Smith, Bartolome and Lewis are charged with hindering prosecution in the first degree, a Class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison. They were also charged with conspiracy to commit hindering prosecution in the first degree, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail.
All four entered not-guilty pleas March 23. Smith, Bartolome and Lewis were released after posting $5,000 bail, and Nahulu is free on $10,000 bail.
The officers were placed on restriction of police authority and are grieving the discipline they received from HPD.
Nahulu, Smith and Bartolome allegedly drove past the scene of the crash, then pretended to know nothing about it when a police dispatcher sent them back to the scene.
The three officers allegedly met up in the driveway of Waianae Intermediate School before the 911 dispatcher sent them to the scene of the crash, according to the complaint.
Body-worn camera footage from Smith, Bartolome and Lewis responding to the crash scene allegedly shows them pretending they didn’t know what happened.
Attorneys in three civil suits against the city at the state level have alleged that Nahulu had a grudge against PerkinsSinapati.
Perkins-Sinapati suffered brain damage, was on life support after the crash and is pursuing a civil action against the officers.
Four other passengers who sustained injuries in the early morning crash recently settled with the city for $4.5 million. Those passengers were 17, 18, 20 and 21 at the time of the crash.
