Ex-HPD officer slain on Mainland
By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
A former Honolulu police officer was shot to death yesterday morning in Kent, Wash., while on duty with the Federal Way Police Department.
Officer Patrick Maher, 46, had worked seven years for the Honolulu Police Department before transferring to Federal Way in Washington state about seven months ago.
HPD Officer Christopher Bugarin, who worked with Maher at the Waikiki substation for 2 1/2 years, said Maher married shortly before taking the job in Washington.
"He was a good guy," Bugarin said. "He really knew the law."
Maher was shot by a man who grabbed his gun during a struggle, Kent police said. The suspect had turned the weapon on a couple he had been fighting with, according to Kent police, who said the man shot Maher in the abdomen when the officer leaped forward to disarm him.
Maher died yesterday afternoon at Harborview Medical Center.
The 28-year-old man accused of shooting him was jailed on suspicion of murder.
Maher's knowledge of the law helped him to be a good witness in the courts, according to Bugarin, who said Maher would help the younger officers to prepare.
"When you had to go to court, you'd ask him: 'Hey, Pat, what do you have to say?" Bugarin said. "He knew what the courts were looking for — he knew everything.
"He was one of the guys you'd go to."
Officer Paul Petersen, of the police force in Kent, said Maher arrived at an AM-PM market on the north boundary of Federal Way and saw three people fighting — the 28-year-old man, his 28-year-old ex-girlfriend and his 24-year-old brother.
Petersen said the 28-year-old man turned and ran across 272nd Street, entering Kent city limits, then got past a small strip mall and tried to climb over the fence while Maher and others chased him.
"The officer, followed by the other two, caught up with the guy, pulled him off the chain-link fence and a scuffle began," Petersen said. "Somehow the suspect got the officer's weapon."
Petersen said the suspect used Maher's gun to threaten the brother and ex-girlfriend.
"In an apparent attempt to disarm the suspect, the officer lunged in and was shot in the abdomen below the edge of his vest," Petersen said.
The brother then jumped onto the suspect's back and held him until another police officer arrived.
Medical assistants treated Maher at the scene and he was taken to Harborview Medical Center, where he died, Petersen said.
Maher spent most of his seven years with HPD working out of the Waikiki substation.
Bugarin, who described Maher as "very nice and very caring," said: "He wanted to make a difference. He did his job and because he did what he did, he probably saved a couple of people's lives."
Bugarin said it was particularly sad to learn of Maher's death so shortly after HPD paid its final respects to motorcycle officer Ryan Goto, who was killed late last month in a traffic accident. The dangers of police work are usually pushed to the back of an officer's mind, Bugarin said, but the Goto and Maher deaths brought them into sharp relief.
"You've got to expect it," Bugarin said. "It's terrible, but we all took the job knowing that is a possibility."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Reach Karen Blakeman at kblakeman@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 535-2430.
