HPD’s Loose Pursuit Policy Leads To Crashes In A Third Of Chases

By Jacob Geanous, civilbeat.org

Moments before the twisting car crash that paralyzed Dayten Gouviea from the waist down, left Jonaven Perkins-Sinapati on life support, fractured the spines of both Trenstin Matua and Justus Sinapati Mason, and sent glass shards into Krypton Afakasi’s eyes, Honolulu police vehicles were caught on security video pursuing the Honda Civic with their lights off.

Sinapati Mason, 20, said that the police vehicle bumped them twice before they veered off the street, struck a concrete curb, collided with trees and continued over a concrete wall at the intersection of Orange Street and Farrington Highway.

The violent end to the police pursuit drew media attention and at least one lawsuit. But a Civil Beat investigation found that in one respect it was not unusual — nearly a third of police chases on Oahu involve crashes. Read more here.