Police accused
of brutality

A Big Isle man refuses food to
protest injuries sustained during
a raid on picnickers in Hilo

HILO » A Big Island man is on a hunger strike in Hilo Medical Center, protesting injuries he received from police during a nighttime arrest at a park south of Hilo on Aug. 29.

Eduardo Acosta told the Star-Bulletin he asked a police officer why he was arresting another man who was part of a group of picnickers, but Acosta walked away when the officer told him to "beat it."

A second officer then came out of the darkness and threw Acosta to the ground, he said. While the first officer came to the second officer's aid, the picnicker under arrest escaped, still wearing handcuffs.

Capt. Steven Guillermo said Acosta was arrested for disorderly conduct. He said Acosta did not complain of injuries during the arrest.

Acosta said he told police, "You're hurting me." An officer said, "You're resisting arrest." Acosta answered, "I'm resisting the pain you're giving me."

Julia Widdop, a friend of Acosta's, said she took pictures of Acosta's injuries, including a scrape on his chin where police pushed his face into the ground. She was not part of the picnicking group.

Acosta said his shoulders were injured when he hunched them forward, trying to protect his face.

The pictures also show marks on his hip and his tail bone where an officer hit him with a flashlight, he said.

Another witness, Shawn Weeks, said Acosta had blood in his urine after the events.

Weeks was the man who escaped after being arrested by the first officer. Still at large, he contacted the Star-Bulletin by phone.

"I ran for my life. These cops were beating the crap out of my friend, who happens to be a very docile person," he said. He thought, "I'm next."

A police statement said Weeks was arrested for a liquor violation. Weeks said the officer wouldn't tell him why he was being arrested. He had a nearly empty beer bottle in his hand because the picnickers were putting things in the car to leave, he said.

Another witness, Marvin Johnson, who was part of the picnicking group, said the second officer knocked Acosta to the ground by using a judo-like move on him. "The officer twisted him up in the arm and slammed him on the ground. It was really brutal."

Johnson and a woman in the group sat on a sidewalk, not moving. "If I had said anything, I would have been arrested," he said.

Acosta said he was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, but at the jail police said they found a tiny piece of marijuana in his pocket, leading to a third charge.

Acosta said the marijuana was not his, although he said doctors found Valium and marijuana traces in his blood when he was admitted to the hospital Saturday, six days after the incident.

He stopped eating last Wednesday because he was too upset to eat, he said. A friend told him he appeared to be suicidal.

"I was scared. They were going to railroad me and hurt me," he said.

His doctor has told him he should eat but is not forcing him to do so, he said.