Family, friends, strangers attend service for officer

By Allison Schaefers and Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writers

Honolulu Police Department officers saluted yesterday in front of police headquarters as a hearse carrying the body of motorcycle officer Ryan Goto passed by. Goto was killed last week in a traffic accident. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

The half-hour service at Hawaiian Memorial Park yesterday included a 21-gun salute, the playing of taps and a presentation of two flags to Goto's family. A helicopter flyby unleashed a cloud of flowers and an array of brightly hued rainbow pigeons took to the sky as the Honolulu Police Department buried one of its own.

"Ryan would have been embarrassed by all of this. He wasn't a person who wanted a lot of attention," said officer Rudolph Mitchell, Goto's beat partner for more than 10 years. "Just the thought of Ryan watching over us makes me smile. This one was for him."

Not all of the people attending knew Goto or had even heard of him before July 23, the day he was killed while on duty, riding his motorcycle on Farrington Highway to conduct traffic stops.

Some, like Wolfman Gass of Kane'ohe, an officer in the Vietnam Vets Legacy Motorcycle Club, just came to pay their respects.

"I may have met him on the road, but I mainly came in support of a fellow biker who put his life on the line," Gass said. "There's no separation between cop and biker when it comes to something like this."

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The graveside service was the final memorial for the fallen 12-year veteran, which began Thursday evening at Borthwick Mortuary with the first of two funeral services. An estimated 1,000 people took part in that service.

Yesterday morning, officers lined both sides of Beretania Street, 250 strong in a stoic salute to their comrade as a white hearse carrying Goto's body glided past the HPD headquarters. The procession, led by eight motorcycles in an arrow formation, then made its way to Hawaiian Memorial Park in Kane'ohe for burial services. On the way, one of the police motorcycles escorting the funeral procession crashed into a car on Punchbowl Street, injuring its rider and destroying the motorcycle. The injured rider, who was not identified by police, was in good condition at The Queen's Medical Center.

At the memorial park, the procession passed an American flag and a Hawai'i state flag at half staff. The cemetery entrance was flanked by two Honolulu Fire Department trucks and a formation of firefighters.

Hundreds of HPD officers attended funeral services for motorcycle officer Ryan Keith Goto at Hawaiian Memorial Park yesterday. Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser

Wreaths from law enforcement agencies throughout the state and one from the family of fallen Honolulu police officer Glen Gaspar, who was shot and killed in the line of duty March 5, surrounded the funeral tent. A picture of a uniformed Goto in front of his motorcycle clowning with his 6-year-old son Bowen was tucked just behind a mountain of white funeral gloves put there by his comrades. On top of the stack, lay a pair of Goto's black leather riding gloves.

The ceremony brought back painful memories for Thomas and Alice Cayetano of Kane'ohe whose son Darrin Cayetano, also a Honolulu police officer, was killed by a drunk driver in 1993.

"We made a commitment to ourselves that whenever any law officer is killed in the line of duty we would pay our respects to show our support to law enforcement," Thomas Cayetano said. "It's been over 10 years, and it's hard to forget, but life goes on."

Reach Allison Schaefers at aschaefers@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 535-8110.