The widow of a former South African rugby star shot and killed by Honolulu police in 2021 will have to wait at least another month for the city council to vote on a $1.5 million settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit that her attorneys had negotiated with the city’s legal counsel.
After strong opposition expressed by the police chief and more than 40 uniformed police officers who showed up at the Honolulu City Council meeting on Wednesday, the council decided to delay the vote until November so it can review more evidence in the case.
In April of 2021, three police officers responded to a 911 call reporting a break-in at an Airbnb home and confronted the suspect, Lindani Myeni, 29, in the driveway.
According to the complaint filed by his widow, Lindsay Myeni, the officers failed to identify themselves, blinded him with high-intensity flashlights, pointed a firearm at him and ordered him to get on the ground.
After Myeni, who was unarmed, asked, “Who are you?” he began to fight with one officer, Cpl. Garrick Orosco, beating him in the face, and was tased by another, Officer Noli Galicha. He then rushed Galicha, and tussled with a third officer, Brent Sylvester.
Myeni then turned back to Orosco, who shot him once before Myeni took Orosco to the ground and began to pound him in the face and head. Sylvester then shot Myeni three times, killing him.
The lawsuit claimed that the confrontation occurred on a dark, moonless night and that because the police arrived without lights, sirens or other indicators of their presence in order to take him by surprise, and then failed to announce themselves, Myeni had no idea who they were. He perceived the “armed assailants” as a threat to his life when he fought back against “the mugger’s bullet.”
Police bodycam video showed Myeni making rapid martial arts strikes and kicks during the short, violent encounter, reported HawaiiNewsNow (HNN).
Police have since argued they acted reasonably and in self-defense after Myeni failed to comply with lawful police demands and then attacked them.
In court documents, officers said they were responding to a reported home burglary in progress, where a man had “blocked the exit” to the home and refused to leave. During the fight, they said Myeni was “undeterred” by the Taser and struck Orosco with such force that Sylvester feared the officer’s life was in danger.
After a two-month investigation, Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Steve Alm cleared the officers, reported HNN. On Wednesday, he told council members the shooting was justified.
“My office is not a rubber stamp for HPD. We have charged officers with things before. We even tried to charge a police officer with murder and attempted murder, and we take each case very seriously,” Alm said.
Alm said that Myeni was the aggressor in the incident and that officers had tried non-lethal methods to subdue him before they shot him in self-defense. He said Orosco suffered severe facial fractures and has not been able to return to work.
Alm also noted that Myeni, a former rugby player, suffered from stage 3 chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disorder often seen in people who’ve had multiple concussions or head trauma, reported Civilbeat.org. CTE can cause confusion, mood swings and aggression, he said.
Myeni had been acting erratically prior to the encounter with police, according to a memorandum filed with the defendants’ motion for summary judgment in March. When he entered the Airbnb home, he allegedly told a woman staying there, “I have video on you, you know why I’m here,” and claimed that a cat that lived on the property belonged to him. Frightened when he did not immediately leave, she called 911.
This account of Myeni’s behavior differs sharply from how it was described in the lawsuit, which said that “Mr. Myeni became aware that he was unwelcome and left the house peacefully.”
A doorbell video indicated that Myeni, who was wearing an umquele, a traditional Zulu head covering, and casually removed his shoes before he entered the multi-unit rental property, may have confused it for a temple located next door, which had a similar columned entrance and circular driveway. The video shows him apologizing as he leaves less than a minute after approaching the front door, and then the woman yelling, “That’s him! That’s him!” to police arriving on the scene.
Jim Bickerton, Myeni’s family attorney, insisted that Myeni did not deserve the brutal “assault and battery” by police that followed.
“Mr. Myeni had a right to defend himself,” said Bickerton. “It escalated wildly and fast, but there was no need, no reason to kill someone unarmed.”
Lindsay Myeni broke down in tears as she told council members about the pain of losing her husband.
“This is a human. This is a man. This is my man, and this is what I was sent,” she said, pulling his clothing out of a bag. “This is his shirt — shot, bullet holes. This is his umquele covered in blood. … there’s been no justice so far yet,” she said.
She told council members that her husband, originally from South Africa, was a community leader who had studied engineering and had at one point aspired to be a police officer.
“He was almost one of you,” she said to the officers standing behind her in the council chambers. “I wish you guys had just talked to him like a human and not exterminated him.”
Of the strong police presence at the council meeting, Bickerton said, “I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s literally a show of force. It has no place in a democracy. If you want to come down and testify in a civil matter, leave your guns back at the station.”
The council’s decision to postpone the vote on the settlement was unexpected, as city attorneys had spent months negotiating with Myeni’s counsel, working with a mediator and a circuit court judge. Bickerton’s initial demand for $5 million in damages had been reduced to $1.5 million, and had been approved on Monday 8-1 by a city council legal committee.
Dana Viola, corporation counsel for the City and County of Honolulu, noted that after a mock jury considered the case and reviewed the evidence, a risk analysis had led the city to settle the lawsuit.
Bickerton called it a fair settlement that would bring closure to Lindsay Myeni and help support her children, who are now 3 and 5 years old.
But Police Chief Joe Logan remains staunchly opposed to any settlement, telling council members, “It is my opinion that we didn’t do anything wrong. … I firmly believe, stand behind our officers, their actions and what they did.”
Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi also wants the case to go to trial, as does Robert Cavaco, president of the state police union.
“When a suspect viciously attacks an officer, the city should not be handing out million-dollar cash prizes to their family. We have a litigation division for a reason. They should be told to stand on principle, defend our officers, and let a jury decide.”
The Honolulu City Council next meets on Nov. 7.
