Jurors rose above
police misconductThe issue: Retired Honolulu Police
Department Officer Clyde S. Arakawa
has been convicted of manslaughter
in the death of Dana Ambrose.COURTESIES extended by police officers to a drunk, off-duty colleague following a fatal traffic accident did not prevent a jury from reaching the proper verdict. The conviction does not excuse the misconduct by officers at the scene of the accident and should be a reminder that fraternal allegiances should end when a policeman becomes a criminal suspect.
Now-retired Officer Clyde S. Arakawa, a 25-year veteran of the Honolulu police force, was convicted of manslaughter yesterday by a Circuit Court jury for the late-night, Oct. 7, 2000, traffic death of Dana Ambrose, a 19-year-old University of Hawaii student. Cars driven by Arakawa and Ambrose collided at the intersection of Pali Highway and School Street.
At the accident scene, police officers contacted an attorney who immediately advised Arakawa not to make any statements. Arakawa was allowed to roam around the crash area and at one point was captured by TV footage draping his arm around a fellow officer. He was not administered a breath test until seven hours after the accident.
However, results of that test -- showing a blood-alcohol content slightly below the legal intoxication threshold of .08 -- were used to establish that Arakawa's blood-alcohol content at the time of the crash was at least .165, more than twice the threshold. According to prosecution testimony, Arakawa drank as many as 11 beers and a shot of hard liquor prior to the accident.
Jurors rejected the defense argument that Ambrose was speeding and had run a red light at the intersection. Arakawa did not testify in the trial but his attorney also claimed that his client's drinking experience essentially had given him extraordinary resilience in holding his liquor. If anything, that argument might have convinced jurors that Arakawa -- especially as a police officer -- should have known he was too drunk to get behind the wheel of a car. That conduct rose to the level of recklessness instead of mere negligence.
At least a dozen Honolulu police officers have been suspended or demoted since the crash for extending what Chief Lee Donohue acknowledged to be improper "courtesies" to Arakawa. This incident should leave an indelible impression on police officers for years to come.
Arakawa, 50, undoubtedly will ask that he be placed on probation, invoking his parents' reliance on him to help care for his 45-year-old brother, afflicted with cerebral palsy since birth. Officer Arakawa should have considered those family needs before he went on his seven-hour drinking binge and made the lethal decision to drive.
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Bill paves the way
for safer crossingsThe issue: A proposal would put
jaywalkers in jail and require drivers
to stop for pedestrians.AT first look, a bill before the state Legislature would appear to place an undue burden on pedestrians, with jail terms and stiff fines for jaywalking. The penalties are considerable, but if the intent is to save lives and heighten awareness, the measure deserves to be heard.
From 1986 through 1999, 345 people have died and 9,464 have been injured -- about two pedestrians a day -- by being struck by motor vehicles in Hawaii. Most of the fatalities occurred when the pedestrians were not in marked crosswalks.
The proposal would increase the current $55 fine for jaywalking to as much as $500 and imprisonment of up to six months for three or more convictions. The fine would be $200 and up to 10 days in jail for the first offense, $300 and as many as 20 days for the second. Not to leave aggressive drivers out of the equation, the measure would require motorists to stop completely instead of just yielding or slowing down when a pedestrian is crossing at an intersection or crosswalk where there are no traffic signals.
The bill would require common-sense rules of conduct many pedestrians already use to avoid being hit: watching for a break in traffic in all lanes of a roadway, clearly indicating intention to cross, making eye contact with drivers, crossing at intersections. So, too, for motorists, who would have to stop when a car in front or in an adjacent lane has halted for a pedestrian.
To reasonable people, demanding such behavior would seem unnecessary. A recent survey by the state Department of Transportation suggests conflicting attitudes. The survey showed that 95 percent of drivers felt pedestrians should have to wait until no cars at all are approaching before starting to cross a street. The same percentage of pedestrians felt drivers should have to stop when people want to cross. Most drivers said that they stopped for pedestrians 59 percent of the time. A third of pedestrians reported they had either been struck or nearly hit by a driver.
All agreed, however, that jaywalking is dangerous, yet many pedestrians do it anyway. Why? Surveys indicate that, like drivers in a hurry, people on foot don't want to take the time to cross where crossing would be safer. Some do it in defiance, feeling marginalized in a culture geared to vehicles. Others are just too lazy to hoof it to the crosswalk.
Whatever the reason, such risky behavior can costs lives. If the trade-off must be a tougher law, a tougher law should be put in place.
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Published by Oahu Publications Inc., a subsidiary of Black Press.Don Kendall, Publisher
Frank Bridgewater, managing editor 529-4791; fbridgewater@starbulletin.com
Michael Rovner, assistant managing editor 529-4768; mrovner@starbulletin.com
Lucy Young-Oda, assistant managing editor 529-4762; lyoungoda@starbulletin.comJohn Flanagan, contributing editor 294-3533; jflanagan@starbulletin.com
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