Video appears to show police fleeing Hawaii crash caused by a chase which left two paralysed
The crash left three people injured, two with broken spines
The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
Surveillance video from Hawaii appears to show police officers fleeing the scene of a crash caused during a chase that left a driver and a 15-year-old passenger paralysed.
Hawaii News Now reports that the footage shows a 12 September police chase involving a black, unmarked law enforcement SUV and a white Honda near the Makaha Surfside condos.
The chase happened around 3.45am. The footage shows the vehicles blasting over a speed bump, with a pair of Honolulu police cars following behind with their lights off.
A police vehicle clipped the side of the Honda sedan, sending it flying through the air and crashing through a nearby fence before finally stopping in a front yard. Five people were inside the car and a sixth reportedly fled the scene.
The police then left the scene and returned later to investigate.
The crash was originally reported by the police as a single car crash, but witnesses to the collision said that the police caused the wreck and then left the scene.
Anthony Charles, a witness who was riding his motorcycle around the time of the crash, said he stopped to help after seeing the officers drive away.
“I was tripping out, like wow, you guys never even stopped to render aid,” he said. Mr Charles said he and other witnesses stayed with the victims of the wreck until paramedics arrived.
He said when the officers arrived they asked what happened.
“The first thing I heard from one of the officers, ‘So what happened here?’ and so I told him, ‘You guys should know, you guys (were) the ones who run them off the road,” Mr Charles said.
One of the passengers in the car was 15-year-old Dayten Gouveia, who was paralysed from the waist down. His family is suing the Honolulu Police Department for the crash and alleging the police tried to cover up the incident.
Eric Seitz, the attorney representing Mr Gouveia's family, said the situation was "pretty outrageous."
“I’m even more disturbed about this whole situation than I was," he said. "We’ve received reports from witnesses who saw parts of the incidents and parts of the chase but the video seems to confirm some of the worst aspects of what we were told.”
Two of the people in the car suffered broken spines. A third passenger, a minor, suffered a split in his eye that required medical workers to sew it back together.
The HPD said that the three officers involved in the alleged crash are currently on restricted duty. An investigation into the incident is pending.