Guard cleared in prison shooting
The state Department of Public Safety has cleared a jail guard who shot and killed an escaping prisoner April 11 in downtown Hilo.
"No further action will be taken," Frank Lopez, interim Public Safety director, said yesterday.
However, police have not completed their criminal investigation into whether the shooting was justified.
The guard told a 911 operator that the prisoner "used bodily harm" against him before the shooting, according to tapes from Hawaii County Police and Fire departments.
The guard, whose name has not been released, shot Thane K. Leialoha, 28, after Leialoha got out of handcuffs and ran across busy Haili Street in the midafternoon.
Leialoha was unarmed and shot in the back.
According to a 2001 amendment to the Department of Public Safety's Corrections Emergency Response Policy and Procedure Manual, no warning shot should be used because most of the facilities are located in urban areas, and such warning shots could create the risk of injury to innocent bystanders.