Family demands full prison term
By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer
Three adult daughters of a Honolulu police officer killed by a drunken driver told the Hawai'i Paroling Authority yesterday that the man convicted of negligent homicide in their father's death should serve his full 10-year sentence and should not be paroled.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
Alyson Thulin told Michael Coulter, 24, she has vivid memories of the night in April 2001 that his truck slammed into her father, Dannygriggs Padayao, 46, on Kamehameha Highway near Johnston Road in Windward O'ahu, fatally injuring him.
Nikki Borengasser, left, and Claire Borengasser listen to a video transmission of Michael Coulter asking the parole board to reduce his negligent homicide sentence in the death of their father, police officer Dannygriggs Padayao.
Padayao was killed while assisting in the investigation of an earlier traffic collision.
"How can you kill a man and carry on with your life as if you did nothing wrong?" Thulin asked Coulter, who sat at a table at the O'ahu Community Correctional Center while his fuzzy video image appeared on a screen at the paroling authority's office on Alakea Street.
She said the cold hospital room where her father lay motionless was a stark contrast to the warmth he brought his family and the community he served. She said she is haunted by the "sobs of my baby sister" that night "wailing for her father to come back."
During the hearing, city Prosecutor Peter Carlisle asked parole board members to make Coulter serve at least seven years before he is eligible for parole. But Coulter's lawyer, Richard Hoke, said the board's guidelines call for a minimum of no more than three years.
The board took the matter under advisement and expects to rule in two or three weeks.
At the hearing, Padayao's daughter, Claire Borengasser, reminded Coulter that only last week another police officer, Glen Gaspar, was killed, the first Honolulu police officer to die in the line of duty since Padayao. "The only difference is a gun was used in that case — you used a car and alcohol," she said.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
Nikki Borengasser, the youngest of Padayao's daughters, told Coulter that she and her sisters will be locked in an emotional prison for the rest of their lives as a result of his actions while he will be released from prison someday.
City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle asks that Michael Coulter, appearing on video monitor, serve at least seven years of his 10-year sentence.
Coulter stared down at a table in front of him while the sisters addressed him.
When it was his turn to speak, Coulter said he "never saw officer Padayao" until the moment of impact, a scene he said he views over and over in his mind's eye.
He said he was trying to avoid a car involved in an earlier collision that was jutting out into his lane when his truck struck Padayao.
"It hurts a lot to know his family hates me," Coulter said. "I'm not a bad person. Fortunately, I've not had anyone close to me die. I would imagine it's horrible. I don't blame them for their rage and hate toward me."
Coulter said that he had a chance to learn before the fatal accident that he had a problem with alcohol but that he didn't believe he had a "drinking problem."
"I wish I could do something to bring officer Padayao back, but I can't," Coulter said.
"... I pray for the family. I pray for them even if they hate me."
Prosecutor Carlisle told the board that Coulter had at least two significant drunken driving incidents in the years leading to the fatality and continued to drive even after his license was revoked.
Hoke told the board that police were largely to blame for Padayao's death because all of the warning flares had burned out by the time Padayao was hit, none of the police cars had their blue lights flashing and officers, including Padayao, were not wearing reflective vests or white gloves.
Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8030.
