Arakawa had red
light, expert testifies

David Yoshida's analysis contradicts
Arakawa's claim that he had a green light

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By Leila Fujimori
lfujimori@starbulletin.com

The bulbs inside the traffic signal lights tell the story.

"Green for Ambrose, and red for Arakawa," the state's accident reconstruction expert witness testified yesterday at the trial of Clyde Arakawa.

David Yoshida said the traffic light bulbs from the accident scene at the intersection of School Street and Pali Highway, provided physical evidence that Arakawa, a former police officer, had the red light at the time of the Oct. 7, 2000, accident, while Dana Ambrose had the green.

His testimony contradicts Arakawa's contention that he had the green light when his white Ford Thunderbird collided with Ambrose's Honda Civic, killing the 19-year-old.

Arakawa, 49, is charged with manslaughter in Ambrose's death.

After the collision, Ambrose's Honda sheared the single traffic light pole that housed the lights at the intersection, and the light fixture ended up on the Thunderbird's hood.

Sgt. David Talon, who headed the accident investigation, testified yesterday morning he had carefully removed the bulbs and etched and labeled them indicating the traffic light color and the original locations in the light fixture.

City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle displayed the enlarged images of photos of the bulbs on a screen for the jury, while the expert explained how he came to his conclusions.

Yoshida said the tungsten filament inside a lit bulb gets white hot and soft like taffy, so that the shock of an impact would cause "hot shock" or deformation to the filament.

He testified he found evidence of hot shock on the red bulb for Pali, on which Arakawa was traveling, and the green bulb for School Street, where Ambrose was.

"How do we know the bulb was not hot-shocked from another accident?" asked Arakawa's attorney, Michael Ostendorp, on cross-examination.

"That's a possibility. They may have received a shock at another point in their life," Yoshida said.

But he pointed out that if that occurred, there would have been damage to the pole and it would have been replaced.

Yoshida, who holds advanced degrees in civil engineering, has testified in about 6,000 accident cases for more than 30 years.

He has testified as an expert mostly for insurance companies in civil cases, but has also testified for both the prosecution and defense in criminal matters.

Yoshida also serves as expert for the Ambrose family in a civil case against Arakawa, in which Arakawa has filed a third-party lawsuit against the city for failing to properly maintain the signal lights at the intersection.

Yoshida initially investigated the accident scene on Oct. 19, 2000, and examined the scuff marks on the roadway. He also looked at police photos and reports.

However, Yoshida didn't inspect the traffic signal bulbs until Jan. 25, 2001, after he was instructed to do so. He said he didn't think it was necessary since witnesses supported the condition of the light.

He also has looked at the vehicles first hand.

Arakawa was traveling between 57 and 59 mph, while Ambrose was going 37 to 39 mph, Yoshida concluded.