Jervis ran into SUV only after boy driver crashed, lawyer says

Saint Louis School says it has punished the teens for their part

Saint Louis School has disciplined four students involved in the drive-by egg-throwing incident that ended in a car crash and the arrest of a former Bishop Estate trustee last week.

The private Catholic school for boys says the students violated a conduct code that expects them to be "gentleman of character" on and off campus.

The students were riding in a sport utility vehicle in Lanikai on the night of March 7 when attorney Gerard Jervis drove after them after they threw eggs at his home. The chase ended in a car crash. No one was injured.

Jervis, a Bishop Estate trustee from 1994 to 1999, is accused of ramming the SUV and pushing it onto a guy wire on a telephone pole. He has pleaded not guilty to first-degree criminal property damage. His lawyer says experts who analyzed the accident will prove Jervis did not cause it.

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An attorney for former Bishop Estate trustee Gerard Jervis says experts will testify that his client's car slammed into an SUV filled with teenage boys after they had crashed their vehicle.

Jervis has pleaded not guilty to a charge of criminal property damage stemming from the March 7 incident in which police say he got into his car and chased the boys after they egged his Lanikai home. Police alleged he purposely slammed into the boys' SUV.

Jervis' attorney, Paul Cunney, said yesterday that accident reconstruction experts will testify the SUV carrying the four Saint Louis School students is damaged between the back bumper and window, an area that Jervis' black BMW sedan could only have struck after the SUV became vertically lodged against a telephone pole guy wire.

"They know that Mr. Jervis didn't ram that car," Cunney said. "The only contact came after they lost control of the car."

According to a police affidavit, Jervis had a blood alcohol content of 0.1 percent, above the legal limit of 0.08, and a drunken-driving charge is pending.

Cunney urged the students to "clear Jervis' name" after Saint Louis announced yesterday it had disciplined them for the incident.

In a statement, the private Catholic school for boys said it took "appropriate disciplinary actions" against the students after conducting a partial investigation. It is unclear how the students were penalized.

Saint Louis students are expected to follow a code of conduct "on and off campus," according to the statement.

"We do not condone any negative behavior from our students -- but we will not abandon any Saint Louis family member either as parents or educators," school President Walter Kirimitsu said. "While these students' choices were not particularly wise, they come from good families and are good kids who hopefully learned a life-altering lesson."

Administrators interviewed students but lacked access to official reports being used by authorities and in a court case despite having permission from the boys' parents to look at the files, Saint Louis spokeswoman Jodi-Anne Yoshida said.

She declined to say whether the students were reprimanded because they admitted to tossing eggs. Without elaborating, Yoshida said their account of what happened does not match some media reports.

"It's a very hard situation for them to be in and for the school to be in," she said, adding that the students' behavior that night was "not in line with student code."

"It cast a negative reflection upon the school," Yoshida said. "But the school is working very closely with the parents to ensure the boys understand the ramifications."

Jervis, a lawyer, pleaded not guilty to first-degree criminal property damage, a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Cunney contends that Jervis was star-gazing after he and his wife returned from dinner when the egging happened. He said Jervis got into his car, followed the SUV and flashed his lights so the teenagers would stop, but that they lost control during a turn.

After the accident, police investigated whether the teenage driver of the SUV had been intoxicated and whether the three passengers had thrown eggs.

Honolulu Police Capt. Frank Fujii declined to comment on the case, saying it had been sent to the city Prosecutor's Office.

Jim Fulton, spokesman for the Prosecutor's Office, also said he could not talk about the investigation, citing privacy laws protecting minors.