{"id":2305,"date":"2026-07-07T07:34:41","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T07:34:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=2305"},"modified":"2026-07-07T07:34:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T07:34:41","slug":"hawaii-supreme-court-clears-way-for-trial-in-officer-involved-makaha-crash-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=2305","title":{"rendered":"Hawaii Supreme Court clears way for trial in officer-involved Makaha crash case"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<section>\n<p>HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) &#8211; The Hawaii Supreme Court has cleared the way for a criminal trial against Honolulu police officers connected to a 2021 chase and crash in Makaha that critically injured six people, including a teenager who was paralyzed from the waist down.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=2303\">Queen\u2019s North Hawaii launches stroke support group<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The court\u2019s opinion rejected the officers\u2019 request to dismiss the charges on a technicality.<\/p>\n<h2>How the crash happened<\/h2>\n<p>On Sept. 12, 2021, a white Honda carrying six people rolled in a Makaha field and slammed into a wall. All six suffered critical injuries.<\/p>\n<p>Witnesses said the sedan was being chased by an unmarked, subsidized HPD vehicle and two marked patrol cars all running without lights or sirens.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Surveillance video backed up those accounts but the HPD vehicles were not at the scene to render aid after the crash.<\/p>\n<h2>What officers were charged with<\/h2>\n<p>In March 2023, Honolulu police officers Joshua Nahulu, Erik Smith, Jake Bartolome, and Robert Lewis III were charged with hindering prosecution and conspiracy to commit hindering prosecution, facing up to 5 years in prison. <\/p>\n<p>Nahulu had an additional felony charge for a collision involving death or serious bodily injury, which carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.<\/p>\n<p>The defense appealed that charge to the state high court arguing it should be thrown out, because Nahulu\u2019s subsidized SUV never made physical contact with the white Honda. The defense pointed to the absence of paint transfer and a crash expert who said there was no contact.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe defense was trying to argue that, well, hey, we never hit the other car, so we weren\u2019t involved in the collision. Therefore, we don\u2019t have to stop,\u201d said Victor Bakke, a defense attorney and former deputy city prosecutor.<\/p>\n<h2>Court: Officers had duty to stop and render aid<\/h2>\n<p>The state Supreme Court disagreed. In its opinion handed down on July 2, the court pointed out that almost every state using the Uniform Vehicle Code has held that being \u2018involved in\u2019 a collision does not require physical contact.<\/p>\n<p>The court called it \u201ccommon sense that a driver, especially a police officer, who chases a car that crashes, must stop and render aid.\u201d Justices ruled the statute is not unconstitutionally vague in Nahulu\u2019s case.<\/p>\n<p>Bakke said the ruling broadens how the law is applied.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>\u201cThe legislature can\u2019t write a statute to cover every possible situation. So this covers the scenarios where if somebody runs somebody off the road, but they never made contact with them, this statute covers it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=2301\">Youth soccer players proud of USMNT despite loss<\/a><\/p>\n<p>No trial date has been set. That is expected to be scheduled in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n<h2>Department discipline<\/h2>\n<p>In 2024, the Honolulu Police Department fired officers Nahulu, Smith, and Bartolome. <\/p>\n<p>The fourth officer, Lewis, was suspended but was allowed to keep his job.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>The case stemmed from a noise complaint. The officers were called to the Maili Beach Park in the early morning hours to break up a party.<\/p>\n<p>Witnesses said some of the teens jumped into the white Honda because they didn\u2019t have rides home when HPD told everyone to leave.<\/p>\n<p>Body camera videos show the driver of the Honda honked his horn and that prompted one officer to start following. Videos were then turned off, so the alleged chase and crash were not recorded.<\/p>\n<h2>Civil settlements total $24M from taxpayers<\/h2>\n<p>The city has settled three separate civil lawsuits stemming from the Makaha crash with taxpayers funding a total of $24 million.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Jonaven Perkins-Sinapati, the driver of the white sedan, received $12.5 million. He suffered severe brain damage and other injuries in the crash.<\/p>\n<p>Months after the deal was made, in August 2025, the Waianae resident was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for firearms and drug trafficking offenses.<\/p>\n<p>In February 2023, the city settled with four other passengers for $4.5 million to cover severe injuries, including one teen who lost an eye.<\/p>\n<p>The other teen who was paralyzed settled for $7 million. The boy who was 15 years old at the time of the crash, had years of physical therapy before regaining his ability to walk.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=2299\">2 rescued in Kalihi house fire, investigation underway<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Hawaii Supreme Court has cleared the way for a trial against former HPD officers tied to a 2021 Makaha chase and crash that critically injured six people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2304,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Hawaii Supreme Court clears way for trial in officer-involved Makaha crash case - 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