COURTS
Officer testifies he
didn’t strike handcuffed
man—others did
Joseph Alejado also allegedly
By Linda Hosek
tried to get others to lie for him
Star-BulletinA Honolulu police officer accused of assaulting a handcuffed suspect in the Pearl City substation in 1995 says he never struck the man. But Officer Joseph Alejado yesterday testified that he saw two other officers kick and punch Sam Tupuola numerous times and knew it was wrong.
"I didn't want any part of that," he said to jurors in his federal trial before U.S. District Judge David Ezra.
Federal prosecutors allege that Alejado, 29, deprived Tupuola of his constitutional rights by striking him at least five times.
They also allege Alejado tried to persuade Officers Ralph Higa and Brock Heald to lie about the incident.
If convicted as charged, Alejado faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for each of two felony counts. Alejado has been with the department since 1991 and works as a patrol officer at the Honolulu Airport.
Tupuola, 22, last week testified Alejado was not one of the officers who beat him.
Under cross-examination, Alejado said he didn't tell the two officers to stop hurting the handcuffed suspect. He also said he didn't tell other officers or his superiors that he had seen two officers assault Tupuola.
"I didn't want to get involved," he said to Assistant U.S. Attorney Peggy Kuo, a trial attorney from the U.S. Justice Department's civil rights division.
He also said he didn't go to the police department's Internal Affairs section when he heard rumors that he had assaulted a prisoner.
Alejado said he was a little worried when he learned the FBI was investigating the incident. But he also said he didn't tell the FBI about the assault on Tupuola when an agent interviewed him.
He said the agent asked about an assault on Tupuola's friend, Ivan Folau, who was arrested and beaten in the incident. He said the agent asked if he had seen Tupuola's injuries, but not how he got them.
"If they had asked me what I saw happen to Mr. Tupuola, I would have told them," he said.
In a comment to Kuo during her cross-examination, Ezra said Alejado has a constitutional right not to incriminate himself.
In the Jan. 4, 1995, incident, Alejado responded to a call to the Waipahu Recreation Center about noise. Tupuola, who was leaving for American Samoa, was celebrating with Folau.
Shortly after Alejado asked them to turn down the music, Folau punched him in the face, splitting his lip. He said he tried to restrain Folau but hurt his hand in the scuffle and was unable to handcuff him.
Alejado said he was not involved in Tupuola's arrest and returned to the Pearl City station only to take pictures of his injuries.
He said as he entered the station's garage, officers arrived with Tupuola and "he was pushed into me."
Alejado said he pushed Tupuola off him and held him against a wall to stabilize him. He also said he used his left hand to grab Tupuola's handcuffs and ushered him down the hall to a cell.
He said he walked away when Higa started kicking Tupuola, and that he saw Heald punch Tupuola twice.
Alejado said Heald asked if Tupuola was the one who hit him in the lip and Alejado said it wasn't.
"He said that nobody punches a police officer and gets away with it," Alejado said.
Alejado said when he, Higa and Heald met a few days after the incident they agreed to tell the truth. But he also said Heald said he "had no problem in lying."
Abused boy's mom retains right
By Helen Altonn
to make his medical decisions
Star-BulletinA woman imprisoned in the attempted murder of her 4-year-old son retains the right to make major medical decisions for the brain-damaged child, says an attorney for the boy and his father. Reubyne Buentipo Jr. is in a convalescent home in a vegetative state.
He was hospitalized in August after allegedly being abused by his mother, Kimberly Pada.
State social workers took the boy from his mother and returned him three times.
Soon after the boy was hospitalized in an unconscious condition, a social worker had Pada sign a voluntary foster placement condition, said attorney Francis O'Brien. Pada signed the agreement in Oahu Community Correctional Center, where she is confined pending trial.
It states that the goal is reunification of the child with the mother, O'Brien said.
It also gives Pada the right to make major medical decisions for the child, he said.
Deputy Public Defender Helen Wong, who represents Pada on the criminal matters, said Pada has given temporary custody for Reubyne to Child Protective Services. However, she has retained full custodial rights, including the right to make medical decisions, Wong said.
When a decision was made to keep Reubyne on life support, Wong said his father, Reubyne Buentipo Sr., was consulted as well as his mother. "I believe he (Reubyne Sr.) also retains the right to make medical decisions."
O'Brien has filed a civil suit against the state for the father and child seeking monetary damages for the boy's injuries.
He also has filed a petition asking Family Court to supervise decisions for the child.
State Human Services Department officials couldn't be reached this morning for comment.
