Big Isle commission
votes to investigate
failure to aid 911 call

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By Rod Thompson
rthompson@starbulletin.com

HILO >> The Hawaii County Police Commission has voted to investigate the refusal of a police dispatcher to send help to a woman who called 911.

Kiana Dempster, 21, of Ocean View, West Hawaii, filed a complaint saying police would not send help when someone tried to force her car off a highway on Dec. 12.

Dempster told the Star-Bulletin that the other driver was police officer Danny Freeman, whom she previously had accused of raping her repeatedly over a six-year period.

Yesterday, the commission heard the 911 tape of the cell phone call Dempster made from her car in which she screams with fear.

On the tape, the dispatcher tells Dempster she can't send an officer because Dempster's lawyer said he didn't want police to question her without him present.

Commissioner Dwight Mana- go commented that there was nothing on the tape to justify not sending an officer.

Commissioner Walter Moe said, "I'm embarrassed."

Freeman remains on leave and under investigation regarding the rape accusations, police said.

Dempster had been charged with making a false report about an unrelated matter. The prosecutor recently dropped that charge.