Hawaii Sheriff Division Faces New Scrutiny In 2019 Capitol Shooting Trial
The family of the disabled man who was killed filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the state and a former deputy sheriff.
A civil trial over a former deputy sheriff’s fatal shooting of a man outside the State Capitol five years ago began this week in a case that cast a spotlight on turmoil in the understaffed sheriff division.
Underscoring the persistent problems, the Department of Law Enforcement, which assumed oversight of the state sheriffs in a reorganization earlier this year, is in the midst of two unrelated misconduct investigations involving multiple staffers.
The family of Delmar Espejo, the man killed in the Feb. 18, 2019, scuffle, sued the state and former deputy sheriff Gregory Bergman of wrongful death and the use of excessive force. Bergman was not named in the complaint, but he was named in motions filed by the state and the family鈥檚 attorneys.
A separate suit, brought by another deputy sheriff in 2019, accused the now-defunct Department of Public Safety, which used to oversee the Sheriffs Division, of a series of failures, including that backup officers did not respond to assist on the night of the Espejo shooting.
Four deputy sheriffs also are on paid leave pending the outcome of an internal harassment investigation, according to the Department of Law Enforcement. The deputies were accused of racially harassing a Black deputy sheriff in training and not reporting the harassment to the department鈥檚 chain of command.
Five others were placed on paid leave in June pending the outcome of a separate investigation, the details of which have not been released.
The Department of Law Enforcement said it does not comment on the status of ongoing investigations or pending litigation.
A jury was empaneled for the civil trial Thursday and testimony was scheduled to continue Friday.
2019 Capitol Shooting
At the time of the shooting, state officials said Bergman approached Espejo because Espejo had an open container of alcohol on Capitol grounds. The officials did not release Bergman’s name and referred to him only as the deputy.
The two men got into a fight, and at one point, Espejo held Bergman in a chokehold, according to the state’s account. Bergman then shot Espejo in the back.
But lawyers for family members of Espejo, who was 28 years old and homeless, described him as very unthreatening.
He stood 5 feet, four inches tall and weighed 117 pounds, according to the lawsuit. He also had multiple disabilities from being diagnosed with childhood polio and had metal braces in both of his legs.
鈥淗e had skinny bone legs and walked with a limp,鈥 the complaint says. 鈥(He) was unable to stand for more than 10 minutes.鈥
The Honolulu Police Department investigated the shooting as a possible second-degree murder and referred the case to Honolulu prosecutors in June 2019. But the state Attorney General鈥檚 Office took over because the case involved a state officer and decided in September 2019 that it didn鈥檛 have sufficient evidence to press charges.
Espejo’s family filed a lawsuit in 2021 alleging 13 counts including assault and battery, excessive force, negligence and infliction of emotional distress. The Department of Public Safety, the sheriff division, an unnamed deputy sheriff and Nolan Espinda, the public safety director at the time of the shooting, were also named as defendants. Espinda retired in 2020 and died in 2022.
The family is seeking unspecified monetary damages.
San Diego Shootings
Bergman, who left the sheriff鈥檚 division and went on to work as a police officer with the San Diego Police Department, was later involved in two fatal shootings there. Department of Law Enforcement spokesman Brooks Baehr said in an email the agency did not know when Bergman鈥檚 employment with the Department of Public Safety ended.
The San Diego Police Department did not respond to questions about his employment there, and court records show he was not charged in either of the shootings.
In July 2021, Bergman was who shot and killed an armed man after he refused to drop his weapon, according to a San Diego Police Department news release.
Bergman was also one of three officers of a man who was holding a gun to his own head on Dec. 8, 2022, according to the San Diego Sheriff鈥檚 Department, which investigated the shooting.
Honolulu First Circuit Court Judge Dean Ochiai ruled Wednesday that attorneys can鈥檛 bring up those shootings during trial.
Toni Schwartz, spokeswoman for the Attorney General’s Office, which is representing Bergman and the state, said in a statement the agency does not comment on pending litigation.
Troubled Sheriff Division
After the shooting, former sheriff Sgt. Ralph Fukumoto filed a lawsuit in 2019 accusing the department of multiple issues, including a lack of backup for Bergman on the night Espejo was killed and the frequent failure of officers to conduct thorough checks of the Capitol area. Bergman was not named in the lawsuit and was identified only as the 鈥渢he officer involved in the shooting.鈥
On the night of Feb. 18, 2019, the Capitol building was staffed with two fewer officers than normal, Fukumoto鈥檚 complaint said. Before the shooting, Bergman had called for backup, but no one was available to assist.
During a separate incident in February 2019, a deputy sheriff did not respond to multiple requests to provide backup during a fight at a bus stop outside the Department of Health building, according to the complaint.
Fukumoto alleged that his superiors didn’t investigate the incident even after he filed a complaint. He claimed that officers were “spending work time for personal matters” and abusing leave policies.
Fukumoto also said officers were sleeping on the job, hanging out in locker room areas while on the clock and hiding rather than patrolling. Some officers were surfing online and watching 鈥渋nappropriate content” while on duty, at one point exposing the department network to a ransomware virus, according to the lawsuit. It added that deputy sheriffs on at least three occasions tried to hack Fukumoto鈥檚 work account and access his files.
Fukumoto鈥檚 lawsuit was settled in June for $35,000.
Sheriffs carry out a variety of law enforcement duties statewide, including providing security at the Capitol and other state facilities, providing protection for the governor and other state officials, serving various types of arrest warrants and acting as bailiffs in state courtrooms. They also conduct investigations that fall under the state’s jurisdiction.
The Department of Public Safety was dissolved at the beginning of the year under , which shifted the Sheriff Division and Narcotics Enforcement Division to the new Department of Law Enforcement and created the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to oversee the state’s jails and prisons.
The most recent complaint against the Sheriff Division came over the summer when a Black deputy sheriff in training was allegedly racially harassed by his co-workers during shift briefings.
Deputy Sheriff Alvin Turla was arrested on June 18 on suspicion of harassment in connection with the incident. Turla鈥檚 attorney, Anthony Quan, did not respond to calls and emails seeking comment.
Sheriff鈥檚 Deputy Sergeant Erich Mitamura and Deputy William Gary were also arrested on suspicion of harassment in June, according to the Department of Law Enforcement.
No charges have been filed, according to court records.
In August, Deputy Sheriff Jordan Kagehiro at his Honolulu residence, according to the Department of Law Enforcement. The Star Advertiser reported he was placed on paid leave in June.
The Department of Law Enforcement would not confirm Kagehiro had been placed on leave before his death. The Honolulu Medical Examiner鈥檚 Office said it had no information to release.
Michelle Yu, spokeswoman for the Honolulu Police Department, which is investigating Kagehiro鈥檚 death, said in an email there are no updates. She said the police report from the incident is being withheld pending the ongoing investigation.
Read the lawsuit below:
