Posted on: Thursday, December 5, 2002

Man dies following scuffle with police

By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau

WAILUKU, Maui — A 51-year-old Pukalani man died following an altercation with three Maui police officers who tried to arrest him during a trespassing and disorderly conduct call in Lahaina, the department reported yesterday.

Rick Gregory was declared dead early Tuesday morning, nearly five hours after the confrontation at a residence on Limahana Place, police said.

An internal affairs investigation was opened shortly after the 10:39 p.m. incident on Monday, said Maui Police Chief Tom Phillips.

Preliminary results of an autopsy performed Tuesday suggest that Gregory died of a heart attack, Phillips said. Among the tentative findings, he said, were arteries that appeared 90 percent blocked.

Phillips said officers found the man outside a home, waving a pen and another object and acting "in a defiant and bizarre manner.'' The officers told him to drop the objects and leave the premises, but he refused.

"He was acting bizarre, talking about devils on walls and being real strange,'' Phillips said.

What followed was a scuffle that lasted between three and five minutes, during which officers tried to arrest the man. They finally were able to take him to the ground and handcuff him, he said.

But as the officers turned the man over and stood him up, he appeared to be passing out. He eventually stopped breathing and the officers — detecting only a slight pulse — performed CPR and used an automatic defibrillator to try to revive him, police said. Paramedics were also called to the scene.

Afterward, each officer was questioned separately as part of the department's internal affairs investigation, Phillips said

The officers' statements appear to support the autopsy findings, he said. Preliminary results indicate Gregory suffered no traumatic injuries.

Results of the autopsy, including toxicology findings, are pending, said Police Lt. Jon Morioka. He said a doctor declared Gregory dead Tuesday at 3:23 a.m., but he did not know where Gregory died.