A screenshot from an officer’s body cam footage shows the officer pointing a gun at Nathaniel Naki while responding to a call about a temporary restraining order violation on April 30. Police say Naki was holding a machete (outlined in the red box) and was told to “put it down.” Last week, Naki’s family filed a lawsuit against Maui County and MPD, saying officers used “unlawful deadly force” when they shot and killed Naki. Photo courtesy MPD
The family of a 39-year-old Kaunakakai man who was shot and killed by police in April is suing Maui County and the police officers involved, saying “unlawful deadly force” was used when the weapons were discharged “at point blank range.”
The family of Nathaniel Naki filed suit Thursday in U.S. District Court in Hawaii and are basing the suit on seven counts, including malicious, willful and wanton conduct by police; negligent infliction of emotional distress, pain and suffering to Naki; wrongful death and intentional infliction of emotional distress to Naki’s family.
The suit says Naki was born and raised on Molokai and was known by all long-time residents, including the officers. It adds that the defendants in the suit knew Naki “was a vulnerable individual due to his present mental state, yet failed to take precautions to protect him.”
In separate court documents before Naki’s death, his mother said in an ex-parte petition for a temporary restraining order that her son “isn’t in the right state of mind.” His father, who filed for a separate temporary restraining order to protect his dogs, said he needed help “to enforce” Naki’s “medication and seek assistance to hospitalize.”
A spokeswoman for Maui County could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
A spokeswoman for the Maui Police Department declined to comment Tuesday due to the pending litigation. The officers involved are on full duty status, the MPD spokeswoman said.
At a news conference on May 3, police said officers told Naki to drop his machete more than 70 times before they shot him after an earlier Taser deployment failed to subdue him. Police had been responding to a report of a temporary restraining order violation near Mile Marker 18.5 on Kamehameha V Highway in Wailua at 7:41 a.m. April 30.
Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said at the news conference that one of the officers involved had undergone critical incident training and the other officer had attempted to get Naki “critical services on prior occasions.”
In the lawsuit, Naki’s family said that officers observed Naki with a machete tucked under his arm and that the police body camera footage provides proof that the machete “was not being wielded in a threatening manner.”
But, the suit alleges, officers pointed their service pistols at Naki and “demanded that he put down the knife which was under his arm, uttering expletives while threatening to shoot and kill Nathaniel.”
“Without any further provocation from Nathaniel,” the suit adds, the officers “opened fire with their weapons at point blank range.”
Naki’s family alleges that his body was on the open road without medical care or assistance for hours.
They also say there was a failure to adequately train the police officers and a failure to have adequate policies and procedures regarding the proper and reasonable protection of citizens.
At the May 3 news conference, police stopped the body camera footage prior to Naki being shot. Assistant Chief of Uniformed Services Keola Tom said that “Mr. Naki eventually advances toward one of the officers and gets within two arms’ length before both officers almost simultaneously discharged their weapons.”
Tom said at the news conference that later footage, which was not shown to reporters, shows officers on scene calling for paramedics and offering aid. Tom added that an off-duty firefighter was allowed to render aid in footage that was also not shown to reporters.
The lawsuit does not include the names of the officers, as the family said that requests for information from the Maui Police Department and the county regarding the identities of the officers have not been forthcoming. The family also said the county and police have failed in divulging information in a “fraudulent attempt to cover-up defendants’ complicity and/or responsibility for Nathaniel’s demise.”
The suit was filed on behalf of Julieann Naki, Nathaniel Naki’s mother and duly appointed special administrator of his estate, along with Raymond K. Naki Sr., Nathaniel Naki’s father, along with his siblings, Raymond K. Naki Jr., Anthony Naki, Jesse Naki, Terina Naki and Palmer Naki.
Honolulu-based attorney William Harrison is representing the family.
* Staff Writer Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.
A screenshot from an officer’s body cam footage shows the officer pointing a gun at Nathaniel Naki while responding to a call about a temporary restraining order violation on April 30. Police say Naki was holding a machete (outlined in the red box) and was told to “put it down.” Last week, Naki’s family filed a lawsuit against Maui County and MPD, saying officers used “unlawful deadly force” when they shot and killed Naki. Photo courtesy MPDToday's breaking news and more in your inbox
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