County settles Kona fatality suit

By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

HILO, Hawai'i — The family of a Kona woman who was struck and killed by a police car as she crossed a road in 2001 will be paid $375,000 to settle a lawsuit over her death.

Hawai'i County Deputy Corporation Counsel Joseph Kamelamela said yesterday that the county paid $275,000 to the family of Gabina Makil last week. An additional $100,000 was paid by an insurance company that provided coverage for police vehicles at the time of the collision, Kamelamela said.

Makil, 66, was struck by a car driven by on-duty police officer Calvin Sasaki at 6:20 p.m. Dec. 2, 2001, as she crossed Mamalahoa Highway in Kealakekua near Central Kona Union Church. Sasaki was not responding to an emergency call when he struck Makil in a crosswalk.

Kamelamela said the settlement does not mean the county believes that Sasaki did anything wrong. The officer returned to patrol duty, and no criminal charges were filed.

Makil's death is one of three cases on the Big Island in the past three years in which pedestrians have been struck and killed by vehicles driven by police officers.