Arakawa admits he was Convicted former police officer Clyde Arakawa acknowledged for the first time yesterday that he was responsible for the fatal car crash that killed 19-year-old Dana Ambrose two years ago.
guilty in fatality
The former cop says he was wrong to
blame Dana Ambrose for the deadly crashBy Debra Barayuga
dbarayuga@starbulletin.comArakawa also admitted that his alcoholism contributed to the events on Oct. 2, 2000.
"I am an alcoholic," he told members of the Hawaii Paroling Authority and Ambrose's parents, Susan and Rollie Ambrose, via a video hookup from the Halawa Community Correctional Center.
The parole board must decide how long Arakawa will spend in prison before he can ask to be paroled and will issue a decision in about a month.
A jury convicted Arakawa in February of reckless manslaughter, finding that he was driving while intoxicated and was speeding when he ran a red light and plowed into Dana Ambrose's car at the Pali Highway and School Street intersection, killing her instantly. Circuit Judge Karen Ahn sentenced Arakawa in April to the statutory maximum of 20 years.
Ambrose's parents asked that the parole board sentence Arakawa to the full 20 years, saying anything less would be unconscionable.
City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle asked that Arakawa be given a sentence longer than the 15 years that another drunk driver received for killing three members of a family in 1997. Unlike James Steinseifer, who pleaded guilty and spared the victims' families from having to go through a trial, Arakawa maintained throughout his trial that Dana Ambrose was at fault, Carlisle said.
Sentencing Arakawa to the minimum 20 years would send the message to the community that "You drink, you drive, you kill -- you will go to jail and you will stay there," Carlisle said.
While Arakawa apologized briefly to the Ambrose family at his sentencing, the retired police officer went further yesterday.
He said he regretted that he did not oppose decisions made by his attorney at trial and sullying their daughter's name. He said he realized that he only increased the family's suffering.
"I apologize to the Ambroses for the terrible pain I brought to their lives," he said.
His new attorney, Myles Breiner, said Arakawa "added insult to injury" by filing suit against the Ambroses for the damage done to his Thunderbird in the crash.
Breiner said Arakawa also "failed miserably" by not opposing the "practiced liver" defense or the personal attacks on Dana Ambrose used by his trial attorney.
Arakawa's trial attorney, Michael Ostendorp, had accused Ambrose of speeding and running the red light and alleged during closing arguments that she may have been on drugs.
A defense expert had testified that Arakawa was such an experienced drinker that his liver could metabolize alcohol faster than a normal person, and therefore his blood alcohol level was below the .08 legal limit at the time of the crash.
"In retrospect, he should have taken responsibility and not put the Ambrose family through this," Breiner said.
Arakawa, who was just days from retiring after 25 years as a Honolulu police officer when the crash occurred, said he brought much dishonor to his family and friends and embarrassment to the department and the profession.
Arakawa did not recommend to the parole board how long he felt he should serve, nor did he seek leniency.
After the hearing, Susan Ambrose described their lives since Dana's death as "excruciating and painful," and Arakawa's statements as "too little, too late."
Earlier, she described her daughter as an inspiration and blessing to everyone who knew her. Dana's true legacy, she said, was how she reminded everyone daily to "live our lives with aloha."