No charges for officer
in death of pedestrian

HILO » The Hawaii County Prosecutor's Office has decided not to file criminal charges against a police officer involved in the death of a Kona pedestrian last year, the office announced.

But the death of Gregory Pluta Jr. will be referred to the state attorney general for additional review, the announcement said.

Officer Bryan Ellis struck Pluta at 1:27 a.m. with his automobile while making what police called a "non-urgent response" to an unrelated call.

Police also said at the time that Ellis was driving at a "normal" speed on Alii Drive along the Kona shoreline when the collision occurred. Pluta was in Ellis' lane of travel when he was hit, the Prosecutor's Office said.

Pluta was pronounced dead about an hour later at Kona Hospital.

Pluta's father, Gregory Sr., yesterday agreed with the police description of the officer's speed.

"Officer Ellis did not drive down the road speeding and purposely kill my son," he said.

But the father was still angry with the way he received notice last year, from a doctor first instead of from police.

He said three lawyers are working on a lawsuit against the Police Department.

"I want first of all accountability. I want them to clean up their act, to get real," Gregory Sr. said.

Ellis tested negative for alcohol or drugs in his blood, the Prosecutor's Office said. Pluta had alcohol in his body, the announcement said, but the amount was not released.

Pluta had been baby-sitting the children of a friend of his stepmother's earlier in the evening. He had been drinking but was not drunk, the friend said at the time.

At 7 a.m. the next day, the friend looked for skid marks on the street but found none.

Another witness told the Star-Bulletin that several police cars were driving with their blue dome lights on but no sirens. They suddenly stopped, turned off their dome lights and got out of their cars, he said. The witness said he did not see the accident happen.

A week later, Deputy Chief Harry Kubojiri revealed that the department had hired an accident reconstruction specialist from Minnesota to investigate the case. No findings were made public.