2 deaths in police custody under review
By Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writer
Honolulu police have opened two internal affairs investigations into the deaths of two men who died within four days of each other while in police custody last week.
Honolulu police commission chairman Ron Taketa said Police Chief Boisse Correa informed the commission of the incidents and will make a full report on the status of the investigations during the commission's regular Wednesday meeting.
Valatchi Milan, a 28-year-old 'Aiea man, and Ross Hose, a 41-year-old Makaha man, both died last week after police responded to calls for help.
Hose became unruly while visiting a relative's home on Makau Street in Makaha on April 26.
Relative Adeline Mercer had said Hose tried to throw her television out of a window and was giving her son, Hose's cousin, a hard time. She said she was awakened by her son's calls for help.
Police were called. During the time police were at the home, paramedics also were called to the residence and responded three times between 3:45 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. They were sent away twice when police appeared to have the situation under control.
On the third visit, paramedics took Hose, who was in critical condition, to the Wai'anae Coast Comprehensive Health Center, where he was pronounced dead.
In the second case, police had arrested Milan at his father's home on Mikalemi Street after he allegedly punched a firefighter who responded to a 7 p.m. medical call Friday at the home.
Milan had been having difficulty breathing, prompting the 911 call. The firefighter was not seriously injured.
Police took Milan to Castle Medical Center for mental observation. He died at 9:48 p.m.
Yesterday the city medical examiner's office performed an autopsy on Milan, but deferred the cause of death. Hose's autopsy also resulted in a deferred cause of death, meaning that the examining physician wants to conduct further tests before settling on a cause.
Neither Hose's nor Milan's toxicology reports have come back from the lab, an official with the office said.
Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8110.
