Maui police sued over
treatment of detainee

WAILUKU » A lawsuit has been filed in Maui Circuit Court against the Maui Police Department, alleging a detainee was beaten in a cell and shackled to a metal bed for two days.

Christopher B. Grindling, 37, who is about 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 240 pounds, alleges he was beaten by police officers while in a cell.

Grindling's attorney, Steve Songstad, said Grindling was pounding on the cell door with his foot while lying on his back on the floor to get the attention of police. Songstad said Grindling wanted to find out why he was arrested.

Songstad said Grindling was never charged based on his arrest on June 4, 2004, but he was charged and eventually convicted of petty misdemeanors that included threatening to cause damage to the jail.

Grindling said after he was shackled to the bed for two days beginning June 5, 2004, he was unable to get water or use the toilet.

Songstad said based on videotape, he was able to determine that police brought in food for Grindling once.

The lawsuit names two of his alleged attackers as Sgt. Roy Hirayama and Aaron Won, then a police patrol officer.

Won is serving a five-year sentence after being convicted of attempting to extort sex from a woman during a traffic stop last year.

Grindling is confined at Maui Community Correctional Center after violating his parole in a 1999 conviction for first-degree terroristic threatening of a Maui police officer.

Maui Police Chief Thomas Phillips said he has not seen the suit and knows nothing about the allegations. Hirayama was unavailable for comment.