Driver who hit, killed officer to serve minimum of 7 years

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

A 24-year-old man who pleaded guilty to driving a pickup truck that struck and killed a Honolulu police officer in April 2001 must serve at least seven years of a 10-year sentence before being eligible for parole.

The Hawai'i Paroling Authority set the minimum sentence for Michael Coulter, a former construction worker who pleaded guilty to first-degree negligent homicide and leaving the scene of an accident in which a person was killed or seriously injured. Coulter admitted that he had been drinking when he struck Officer Dannygriggs Padayao on April 30, 2001.

Padayao, 46, was setting up flares at a traffic accident on Kamehameha Highway in Windward O'ahu when he was hit. Padayao was knocked into the path of another pickup and died of his injuries.

Police caught up with Coulter later that evening, but he denied any involvement.

Other minimum sentences recently handed down by the Hawai'i Paroling Authority include:

• Henry Lagmay, 50 years of a life sentence for second-degree murder. Lagmay was convicted of the fatal stabbing of his former girlfriend, Isabelle Yim-Mortier, in her Kahala townhouse in March 2001.
• Emelie Rauschenburg, 30 years of a life sentence for second-degree murder. Rauschenburg was found guilty in March 2003 of stabbing to death her care-home operator, Agapita Alcaraz, in 2001.
• Victor Faagau, 13 years of a 20-year sentence for manslaughter. Faagau was found guilty for his part in the July 2001 beating death of William Van Winkle at Wai'anae District Park. Faagau was 15 at the time.
• Jones Pele Poti, eight years of a 10-year sentence for negligent homicide and fleeing the scene of an accident. Poti pleaded guilty to causing the July 2000 head-on collision near Ma'ili Point that killed two women and critically injured several others.

Reach Curtis Lum at 525-8025 or culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.