Whatever
Happened To...
Big Isle woman who said
police raped her wants
to help othersQuestion: What ever happened to Kiana Dempster, the young Big Island woman who said several police officers repeatedly raped and abused her?
Answer: Dempster, 22, has taken a 30-hour domestic violence advocacy course and hopes to find work helping other women, she said.
She is moving with her parents and other family members from the remote Kau district to Honolulu within a week, Dempster said.
Living a wild life as a teenager, she said she never finished high school. In Honolulu she will take math classes that she needs for a high school diploma.
Starting in 2001, Dempster told authorities of years in which she had sex and used drugs with police officers in Kau starting about age 15. Not all of the encounters were voluntary, and one officer raped her more than 70 times, she said in court documents.
A restraining order that kept an officer away from her was not renewed by one court.
A lawsuit in another court against another officer who allegedly physically abused her ended with a verdict in the officer's favor.
Seeking help from the county Police Commission, she played a Police Department 911 tape in which a dispatcher refused to send help when Dempster felt an officer was threatening to run her off the road with his car. The commission eventually decided that the dispatcher acted properly.
Dempster says her life has changed. "I think I'm just starting to live," she said.
Ever wonder what happened to a person, event or issue that has been in the news? We'll find out for you if you e-mail us at cityeditors@starbulletin.com, call us at 529-4747 or write 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana, Honolulu, HI 96813. "What Ever Happened to ..." runs Saturdays. This update was written by Nelson Daranciang.