Sister sues city over police shooting

The sister of a 46-year-old woman whom Hono­lulu police officers shot with a Taser and serv­ice firearm in McCully in 2009 is suing the city and the two officers.

The sister filed the lawsuit in state court on behalf of Yvonne Arsisto.

The lawsuit accuses the city and the officers of assault with a deadly weapon, battery, infliction of emotional distress, negligence and violation of Arsis­to’s civil and constitutional rights.

Arsisto is awaiting trial in state court for allegedly threatening three police officers and a security guard. Her trial is on hold because a state judge has determined that Arsisto is mentally unfit to stand trial and has denied the state’s request to allow it to force Arsisto to take antipsychotic medication that could make her fit.

The state wants the court to appoint experts to examine Arsisto to determine whether she is still unfit. Her lawyer wants the judge to dismiss the terroristic threatening charges if he determines Arsisto will never be fit to stand trial. The judge has scheduled a hearing in May.

Police said they sent officers to a commercial building at King Street and Kalakaua Avenue on April 3, 2009, when a security guard there reported encountering Arsisto holding metal objects at the front door of a business. The officers said they fired at Arsisto with their gun and Taser after she lunged at them.

Arsisto suffered a gunshot wound to her abdomen and spent 22 days in the Queen’s Medical Center. She is now at the Hawaii State Hospital.

Celebrate and stroll

The community group Envision Laie will hold a dedication ceremony this morning for the Malaekahana Bike & Pedestrian Path. It will begin at 10 a.m. along Gunstock Ranch Road in Laie. The meandering 8-foot-wide path is nearly a mile and a half long and sits about 15 feet from the highway between the Kaha­wai­nui and Malaekahana bridges. Visit www.envisionlaie.com.

NEIGHBOR ISLANDS

State park grows bigger by 17 acres

Seventeen shoreline acres on the Big Island’s North Kohala coast have been added to Lapa­kahi State Historical Park, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources announced yesterday.

The $2.35 million purchase was made by a public-private partnership of Kohala community organizations, the Trust for Public Land, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, the state Office of Planning’s Coastal Zone Management Program, the Legislature and the state Legacy Land Conservation Program.

The purchase protects dozens of significant pre-contact Hawaiian cultural sites, the department said. It also protects and provides access to the adjacent Lapa­kahi Marine Life Conservation District, which serves as a habitat for more scores of marine species.

The land had been threatened by residential development before the trust was able to negotiate an agreement with a private landowner to add it to the park.