The release of former police officer Clyde Arakawa’s Social Security number and home address to the press by a state official may have been a mistake, but if so, it was a small one.
In the heat of intense media attention following the collision between a car driven by Arakawa and 19-year-old Dana Ambrose the night of Oct. 7, in which Ambrose died, that information was released by Ronald Sakata, chief adjudicator for the state Judiciary Administrative Driver’s License Revocation Office.
Arakawa later filed a lawsuit against the state over the release of this personal information. In throwing out the suit, federal Judge David Ezra said Sakata may have been guilty of misjudgment, but not a breach of the law.
And that’s where that question should have ended, except for a highly unusual and questionable initiative by the Honolulu Police Department in launching a criminal probe of Sakata over the release of that data.
Police Chief Lee Donohue defense of the investigation is that it was requested by police officers.
That’s mighty thin. Does HPD begin such investigations on behalf of accused dentists when requested by other dentists?
Appearances are extremely important in cases of such sensitivity, as Donohue surely is aware. The appearance here is of cops helping a cop in trouble, not by testifying to his good character or supplying evidence that might exonerate him, but by intimidating and inconveniencing a state official perhaps seen to be an "enemy."
Donohue already has already acknowledged that his department extended "special courtesies" to Arakawa. If this is another one, it’s highly improper and damaging to the department’s credibility.
