Bar video to be displayed in Arakawa trial

By David Waite
Advertiser Staff Writer

The jury that hears the reckless manslaughter case against former Honolulu police officer Clyde Arakawa will be allowed to visit the scene of a fatal collision that involved Arakawa and 19-year-old Dana Ambrose, Circuit Judge Karen Ahn ruled yesterday.

Ahn also ruled that a security camera videotape showing Arakawa drinking with friends at the Side Street Inn on Hoapaka Street hours before the collision may be shown to the jury and that the prosecution may make reference to a November 1992 incident in which Arakawa was found asleep or passed out on the living room floor of a stranger's home in Kailua with a blood alcohol level of 0.207.

Arakawa's lawyers, Michael Ostendorp, objected strenuously to use of the videotape and any mention of the 1992 incident.

Ostendorp said time lapse photography was used to make the security videotape. Because of the two- or three-second pauses between frames, Arakawa's motions appear to be "jerky," Ostendorp said.

"It's going to make him look (alcohol-) impaired," Ostendorp said.

Arakawa's trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 14.

Prosecutors maintain that Arakawa, 49, was drunk when his 1993 Ford Thunderbird broadsided a 2000 Honda Civic in October last year at School Street and the Pali Highway, killing Ambrose.

But Ostendorp claims that Ambrose was speeding and ran a red light at the intersection, and that Arakawa, who was off-duty at the time, did not cause the collision.

Ostendorp said the prosecution could use the testimony of other cafe patrons and the bartender as well as receipts to show how much Arakawa had to drink in the hours leading up to the collision.

He said use of the tape would be unfair to Arakawa because in would portray "a guy standing at the bar for two hours with a beer in his hand.

"What are they going to do, count the sips?" Ostendorp said.

Ahn said she would allow limited mention of the 1992 trespassing incident since Arakawa's "state of mind" on the night Ambrose was killed "is the prime fact in dispute."

The prosecution claims that because Arakawa argued in the 1992 case that he had a sudden and adverse reaction to consuming alcohol, he should have known that any consumption of alcohol since could mean trouble.

Ostendorp disagreed. "I don't know what the 1992 incident had to do with the October 2000 incident," Ostendorp said.

Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8030.