Accident victim WAILUKU >> Antonio "Tony" Funes was the type of Maui police detective who worked the hard homicide cases, the ones other police officers had overlooked and classified as miscellaneous accidents.
was ‘pit bull’ cop
Antonio Funes took up hard-to-solve
cases until he retired in 1998By Gary Kubota
gkubota@starbulletin.com"Tony was like a pit bull," recalled his former supervisor Creighton Kamana, a retired police lieutenant. "When he get on to you, he never let up."
Funes, 54, who retired from the police force in 1998, died yesterday morning after a pickup truck hit him near Maalaea while he was working in his private business directing traffic through road construction.
Police traffic investigator Lawrence Becraft said Funes was wearing high-visibility clothing, white gloves and using a flashing light before he was struck on Honoapiilani Highway just north of North Kihei Road at 2:46 p.m.
The driver of the pickup, Bruce B. Mauvais, 56, of Lahaina was charged with first-degree negligent homicide in Funes' death. Mauvais, who posted $5,000 bail, is scheduled to appear July 23 in Wailuku District Court.
Funes, a Wailuku resident and graduate of Baldwin High School, served nearly 22 years with the Maui Police Department, rising to the rank of detective.
Kamana said Funes was the kind of person who was not afraid to speak his mind even if his idea was opposed by a superior officer.
Funes' wife, Susan, recalled there were a couple of cases police officers initially classified as miscellaneous accidents that her husband felt were suspicious and deserved further investigation.
One involved the death of a gay man at a Maui beach, and another, the death of a Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. supervisor at a job site, she said. Both cases eventually led to homicide convictions.
"He was just a guy who wanted to see the right thing done, and you aren't going to find many people going up against the system," she said.
Besides his wife, Funes is survived by mother Anna; brothers Marvin, John, Manuel Jr. and Joseph; and sisters Anita Coelho and Trinidad Awai.
Funeral arrangements are pending.