Minnesota firm hired
to investigate fatal
Big Isle accident
HILO >> Big Island police have hired a private accident reconstruction specialist to investigate a fatal collision between a police car and a Kona pedestrian last week.
Ric Anding & Associates, a Minnesota firm, has been investigating since Thursday, said Deputy Police Chief Harry Kubojiri.
At 1:27 a.m. Feb. 15, a car driven by a police officer responding to a call hit Kona resident Gregory Pluta, 33, on Alii Drive.
The officer's car was the first of four responding to a report of drunken behavior at Keauhou Pier, south of Kailua-Kona.
Pluta was pronounced dead at 2:34 a.m. The officer was placed on administrative leave, a standard procedure.
A resident near the road told Pluta's father that police cars stopped suddenly. Another friend told the father she could not see any skid marks on the road.
Kubojiri said he has not received official reports on the incident. Some Traffic Enforcement Unit officers are trained to determine a car's speed where skid marks exist, he said.
In their absence, a specialist such as the Minnesota company can also estimate speed by the degree of damage on the officer's car, Kubojiri said.
A company representative has also seen Pluta's injuries and other evidence in the case, he said.
A lot of emotions and conjectures surround the case, Kubojiri said.
"We want to know the facts of what happened," he said.
Two investigations are under way: one internal, dealing with whether the officer broke any police rules, and the other a traffic investigation, which could lead to a criminal investigation if evidence points that way.
The report from Ric Anding & Associates could be used in both investigations, Kubojiri said, although the primary purpose is the traffic investigation.
An outside investigator was also used in a 2001 Kona accident in which pedestrian Gabina Makil was hit by a police car, Kubojiri said. The county prosecutor said there were no grounds for criminal charges, but Hawaii County paid Makil's family a financial settlement after they filed a lawsuit.
In 2002 a car driven by an off-duty police sergeant struck and killed pedestrian Kamekona Cummings in Puna. The sergeant was cleared of criminal charges, but a lawsuit is pending.
