(AP) – No charges will be filed against seven officers who were involved in the deadly shooting of a man armed with an AR-15 on New Year’s Day in Honolulu, according to Prosecutor Steve Alm.

Sidney Tafokitau, 44, had fired at multiple officers, wounding two, before he was shot 23 times by Honolulu police, Alm said.

Alm said the shooting was justified in order for police on scene to protect themselves and others.

“The police did their job that day and behaved professionally and courageously,” he said during a press conference Wednesday.

Criminal charges against officers in Hawaii for using on-duty lethal force are extremely rare. A 2021 charge against a Honolulu office was first time in decades, and the case did not proceed.

Tafokitau had been involved in several violent incidents that day, including ramming the back of his ex-girlfriend’s car and shooting her three times on Moanalua Freeway near Aloha Stadium at around 7:15 a.m. She was treated for multiple gunshot wounds at Queen’s Medical Center.

Later, at around 11:25 a.m., Tafokitau fired at least 15 rounds at a Crime Reduction Unit police van in Kalihi and 20 minutes later carjacked a driver’s white Scion at gunpoint in Kaneohe.

Police pursued him around the island, through Kapahulu and to the North Shore where he side-swiped a motorcycle on Kamehameha Highway just before 3 p.m.

A Honolulu police helicopter tracked him to the North Shore and later spotted him near Laniakea Beach as a group of onlookers tried to film the Scion. The helicopter attempted to fly closer to the ground to tell the bystanders to back up when Tafokitau started shooting at the aircraft from his vehicle, according to Alm.

Tafokitau later passed officers on University Avenue who were taking cover in their vehicle and shot at them, striking one in the abdomen at around 4:15 p.m.

Tafokitau got out of the Scion near the intersection of University Avenue and Dole Street and began shooting at other police vehicles on scene. One officer was struck in the head, left eye and left shoulder.

Officers, including from the Crime Reduction Unit, fired back at Tafokitau, striking him 23 times. An autopsy found he had alcohol and cocaine in his system, Alm said.

“What they did was justified,” Alm said of the officers’ actions. “It’s just a terrible shame when people commit crimes like this. I applaud them for being professional and doing the right thing.”

Tafokitau had a lengthy criminal record, which included 14 felony convictions for crimes including robbery, using a firearm in the commission of a felony and being a felon in possession of a firearm. The AR-15 he used on Jan. 1 was unregistered.

Honolulu police Chief Joe Logan said during a Honolulu Police Commission meeting Wednesday that of the two officers injured, one has returned to work on light duty and the other has not and is still recovering.

Alm declined to comment on an investigation into allegations that a bystander was rammed with a police SUV and beaten by officers during their pursuit of Tafokitau, near the scene of the shooting. The man, Tevitatonga Sinamoni Vaokehekehe Cadiente, 25, and his father have filed a lawsuit against the police department, which is still pending. The lawsuit accuses officers of initially mistaking Cadiente for Tafokitau, despite the fact that at the time of the beating, Tafokitau had already been shot about 300 yards away.

Alm said the police have finished their criminal investigation into the incident and sent their reports to the prosecutors office for review. Honolulu police spokeswoman Michelle Yu said in a statement the department’s administrative investigation of that incident is ongoing.

“We’re making the final call,” Alm said, though he would not say when he expects his office to make a decision about charges.

Alm said almost no body camera footage is available for either the shooting of Tafokitau or the beating of Cadiente because the officers involved were members of the Crime Reduction Unit, a plainclothes squad that is not required to wear the devices.

The last officers to be criminally charged for an on-duty shooting in Honolulu were involved in the killing of 16-year-old Iremamber Sykap in 2021. Sykap was unarmed and was shot from behind as he fled from police in a stolen car.

The prosecutors office charged officer Geoffrey Thom with murder and officers Zackary Ah Nee and Christopher Fredeluces with second-degree attempted murder, the first time in decades, according to prosecutors. A grand jury later declined to indict the officers and a district court judge ruled there was not sufficient probable cause to put them on trial.

There have been 76 police killings and in-custody deaths statewide since 2010, according to Civil Beat’s police accountability database.

Nationwide, fewer than 3% of police killings each year result in officers being charged with a crime, according to Mapping Police Violence, a national nonprofit tracking police violence.

Nicholas Chagnon, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Hawaii West Oahu, said in many cases, it’s difficult to prove culpability in officer-involved shootings, making prosecutors reluctant to file charges.

“These can be very difficult cases to prove legally,” he said, “and so not only can the outcome not go the way that the public might want if a police officer’s charged, but also I think prosecutors are very cautious about charging police officers in these cases because they can be so difficult and because of the working relationship they have to maintain with the police.”

He said he would like to see a more independent body than the prosecutor’s office investigating police shootings, such as the Office of the Attorney General. For example, Maryland and New Jersey both have divisions within their attorney general’s offices dedicated to investigating police shootings.

He would also like to see more opportunities for civilian input in the process of reviewing use of force cases.

Chagnon called the events of New Year’s Day an “extraordinary incident” for the community and said he agreed with Alm’s decision not to charge the officers involved in the shooting of Tafokitau because he posed a serious threat to the public.

But, he said the prosecutor did not do enough to address the allegations that Cadiente was rammed with a police SUV and beaten not far from the shooting scene.

“It seems as if they’re not paying adequate attention or giving due acknowledgement to these other issues,” he said.

Michael Rudy, who is representing Cadiente and his father, said he is disappointed that the investigation has taken nearly a year. He said he hopes that the prosecutor’s office decides to hold the officers involved criminally responsible, but the outcome of the criminal investigation will not affect his civil case.

Another issue raised during the daylong manhunt of Tafokitau was the police department’s lack of communication with the public about the status of the pursuit, especially because Tafokitau was considered armed and dangerous. It posted one update on social media that day.

Multiple public officials, including Mayor Rick Blangiardi, called on the police department to improve the speed and frequency with which it pushes out updates on public safety matters.

Logan said during the commission meeting that the department is working on hiring two more information specialists on a contractual basis to help with public communications and is creating a new executive management-level position dedicated to developing communications strategies.

 

Story originally published by Honolulu Civil Beat and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.