Shiraki 'a good guy' who downplayed dangers of job
| • | Three victims in Big Isle air crash called 'heroes' |
By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Staff Writer
HILO, Hawai'i — Melinda Shiraki spent her second wedding anniversary yesterday waiting for her husband's body to be lifted from the wreckage of a Hawai'i Air Ambulance plane that crashed Saturday in a forest north of Hilo.
Courtesy News 8
She had worried about the risks he took on the medical evacuation flights, which he did as a part-time job, but Mandy Shiraki had always downplayed the danger.
Melinda Shiraki, with Mandy at their wedding two years ago, says her husband's last words to her were "I love you."
"I wanted him not to fly, and he reassured me over and over that he would never, ever do something that he felt wasn't safe or would jeopardize anything that we had," said Melinda Shiraki while waiting at a recovery command post set up at the Mauna Kea Community Center.
His last words to his wife were, "I love you."
Mandy Shiraki and two other men died when the Hawai'i Air Ambulance Cessna 414A Chancellor crashed in stormy weather while on its way to pick up a 9-year-old patient at Hilo Medical Center. Also killed were pilot Ron Laubacher, 38, and Joseph Daniel Villiaros, 39, a Honolulu firefighter who also worked part time for the air ambulance company.
Shiraki, an Emergency Medical Services district supervisor in Honolulu, had assured his wife he would refuse to fly with a pilot he didn't trust, or a pilot who did not properly pre-check the plane. At times, he refused to fly in bad weather, said Melinda Shiraki, 33, who is also a paramedic
She said he knew all the Hawai'i Air Ambulance pilots and trusted them because they are good at what they do.
"He loved it; he never had any doubt about it," she said. "I think if I had put my foot down he would have stopped, but if you knew Mandy and the work he has done for EMS, there's no way he would be happy not doing it."
Mandy Shiraki worked for the air ambulance company in his spare time because after his promotion to district supervisor, he missed the "interaction and the skills and being right there," his wife said.
"Air ambulance for him was keeping up his skills and the patient contact he loved so much, and that's why he did it."
Honolulu Police Chief Lee Donohue said Mandy Shiraki was a regular and welcome sight at public safety incidents.
"He was really just always there, whenever we needed him," Donohue said. "If he knew our SWAT team had been called out, he'd just go up to the area and stand by. At Honolulu City Lights, he'd be there to make sure his people were available."
Donohue can speak firsthand about Shiraki's skills. On Sept. 18, 1999, the call went out for medical assistance for a cardiac arrest at HPD's "Fit for Life" competition. Donohue was the victim.
"The ambulance crew came in to save me with a defibrillator," the chief said. "They had to get a tube into my lungs, but they couldn't because I was so combative.
"But Mandy was able to get the tube into me."
"He was just a good guy," Donohue said. "Our condolences go out to the family and friends of all three people who were out on that medical mission."
Staff writer Karen Blakeman contributed to this report. Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 935-3916.
