Posted on: Wednesday, February 6, 2002
Expert says Arakawa was speeding, ran light
By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer
An expert witness testified yesterday that he believed former Honolulu police officer Clyde Arakawa's car was traveling up the Pali Highway at more than twice the speed limit and ran a red light moments before it collided with another vehicle, killing its driver.
David Yoshida of Palo Alto, Calif., an accident reconstruction specialist, testified at Arakawa's manslaughter trial. Yoshida said he used mathematical formulas and information collected from the Oct. 7, 2000, car crash at the corner of Pali Highway and School Street to determine that Arakawa was traveling 55 to 59 miles per hour in a 25 mph zone when his 1993 Ford Thunderbird struck the left front fender of a 2000 Honda Civic driven by 19-year-old Dana Ambrose.
He estimated that Ambrose had been going 37 to 39 mph.
City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle maintains that Arakawa was drunk and speeding and that he ran a red light, causing in the fatal crash.
Arakawa's lawyer, Michael Ostendorp, has argued that Ambrose was the one who was speeding and that she ran the red light.
Yoshida yesterday said that he examined the filaments in the light bulbs that were in the traffic signals in the mauka-bound lanes of Pali Highway and 'ewa-bound lanes of School Street the night of the collision.
He said the bulbs clearly show that Ambrose had a green light and that Arakawa had the red when the cars collided.
He said the front bumper of Arakawa's car hit Ambrose's car in the left front fender, causing it to spin clockwise, and then the right rear section of Arakawa's car struck the left rear section of Ambrose's. Ambrose's car then sheared off the pole supporting the stoplights and struck a concrete pillar.
Because much of Ambrose's momentum was lost in the first and second collisions with Arakawa's car, and again when her car struck the stoplight post, her car was probably going no more than 20 to 30 mph when it struck the concrete pillar, Yoshida said.
