The Honolulu Police Department has fired three officers involved in a 2021 high-speed chase and crash that injured six people on the Waiʻanae Coast.
The three officers are awaiting trial for allegedly causing the incident and then trying to cover it up.
Officers Joshua Nahulu, Erik Smith and Jake Bartolome allegedly took part in a high-speed pursuit of a car filled with six people from a beach park in Mākaha.
The car then crashed. The driver, Jonaven Perkins-Sinapati, suffered brain damage and was on life support. He is suing the officers.
Another passenger was paralyzed for months from the neck down. In a separate lawsuit, doctors estimated he would need about $7 million in medical care throughout his life.
Four other passengers who sustained injuries in the crash recently settled with the city for $4.5 million.
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports that, according to HPD, the officers were discharged earlier this month.
All three filed grievances against the department, and their termination is not final.
Nahulu pleaded not guilty last year to a charge for a collision that resulted in serious bodily injury. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. Prosecutors say he drove a vehicle involved in the collision and failed to stop at the scene.
Smith, Bartolome and Robert G. Lewis III each pleaded not guilty to one felony count for hindering prosecution and another felony count for conspiracy. The first charge is punishable by up to five years in prison, the second by up to one year.
