Widows of HPD An attorney for the widows of two Honolulu police officers killed in a helicopter crash during a 1995 search-and-rescue mission has accused the city of destroying the original audiotape of Fire Department radio transmissions just before and after the flight.
officers allege
buried information
Their lawyers contend that the
city destroyed radio audiotapesBy Leila Fujimori
lfujimori@starbulletin.com"We think it's a cover-up," said William Saunders, attorney for the widows, Renise Bayne and Valerie Kahakai.
Saunders is asking the Circuit Court to compel the city and the Honolulu Fire Department to produce the entire audiotape and any other evidence it has and to sanction them for destroying what he called critical evidence.
City Corporation Counsel David Arakawa said in a written statement, "Fire Department officials followed the normal procedures for obtaining a copy of the radio transmissions which were requested by the National Training Safety Board."
On July 21, 1995, Fire and Police Department personnel were searching for a lost hiker in the hills above Sacred Falls, near Punaluu on Oahu's windward side. Peter Crown was piloting the HFD rescue chopper. Dangling in a net below the chopper were police officers Bryant Bayne and Tate Kahakai.
The chopper crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all three.
The police officers' widows are suing Crown's estate, the HFD rescue captain in charge, the Honolulu Police Department Specialized Services Division (SWAT) team sergeant, and the manufacturer of the net the two men were riding in.
The suit, filed in 1997, contends the pilot was warned not to go into the Sacred Falls area if the tops of the Koolau Mountains were covered by clouds.
A KHON-TV news video contained a portion of the original audiotape that had been deleted from the copy of the tape Saunders' office received, Saunders said.
In the KHON-TV report, a fire rescuer who was already on the mountain is heard saying to Crown, "Peter, I don't think this is going to be a good idea. There's a lot of clouds coming in right now."
The narration in the KHON story said the rescuer made those comments seconds before the helicopter took off.
Saunders also believes there may be more on the tape that was omitted. The tape he received had obvious erasures, he said.
"We don't know what else is missing," Saunders said. "Nobody told us about the warning."
In his statement, Arakawa said: "The city is not a defendant in this case and never has been. Plaintiffs originally sued 12 individual city or former city employees. Of these 12 individuals, only three remain in this case. The court dismissed three of these individuals, and plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed six others."
Arakawa said it is troubling that "since plaintiffs have a weak case, they feel compelled ... to try their case in the media.
"Other than to say that the plaintiffs' complaints regarding the audiotape have already been considered by the court in a previous proceeding and ruled upon, the city declines further comment."
Saunders said that the judge had actually ruled in his clients' favor and ordered the city to pay up to $10,000 to locate any TV news archives toward a reconstruction of the missing tape.
Though the city is not a named defendant, it has apparently been involved in the defense of its employees, Saunders said. The police officers' widows are precluded from suing the city because of workers' compensation rules, he said.