Posted on: Friday, February 1,2002

Jury told Arakawa likely was drunk

By David Waite
Advertiser Staff Writer

An expert on the effects of alcohol on the human body testified in Circuit Court yesterday that he believes former Honolulu police officer Clyde Arakawa had more than twice the legal limit of alcohol in his body when he was involved in a fatal car crash.

Under Hawai'i law, a person with a blood alcohol concentration level of .08 or higher can be arrested and prosecuted for drunken driving.

Clifford Wong, a former research scientist and expert in testing techniques used to establish alcohol levels in people arrested for drunken driving and other crimes, said Arakawa likely had a blood alcohol concentration level of at least .165 and perhaps as high as .190 when his car collided with one driven by 19-year-old Dana Ambrose.

The crash occurred a little before midnight Oct. 7, 2000, at the intersection of Pali Highway and School Street. Arakawa was able to walk away, but Ambrose died of injuries she received in the crash.

Arakawa is on trial on a charge of manslaughter.

City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle contends that Arakawa was drunk, speeding and ran a red light when he broadsided Ambrose's car on the driver's side.

But Arakawa's attorney, Michael Ostendorp, has said that Ambrose was speeding and ran a red light. He maintains that Arakawa was not drunk when the collision occurred.

Police officer John Gabriel testified yesterday that he tested Arakawa for alcohol use at about 7 a.m. the morning after the crash and found his blood alcohol level to be .06. Gabriel said he tested Arakawa only to make sure he was sober and clear-headed enough to be questioned by detectives because a felony criminal case had been initiated against Arakawa.

Circuit Judge Karen Ahn ruled prior to the start of the trial and over Ostendorp's objections that the results of the breath test could be used by the prosecution even though Gabriel mistakenly told Arakawa at the time he took the test that the results would not be used in the case against him.

Wong said he applied a nationally accepted standard for the rate at which an average person's body rids itself of alcohol and determined Arakawa had far more alcohol in his system than allowed by state law at the time of the collision.