KEALAKEKUA — A jury listened to opening statements from the prosecution and defense Tuesday in Kona Circuit Court in the trial for a former Hawaii Police Department officer accused of negligent homicide after allegedly fatally striking a cyclist while on duty in March 2015.
Charges in the case stem from a March 1, 2015 crash where the state alleges while operating a police subsidized vehicle, Jody Buddemeyer struck bicyclist Jeffrey Surnow, 69, of Michigan, who was riding east on Waikoloa Road, from behind.
An Oct. 11, 2016, indictment charged Buddemeyer with negligent homicide as well as tampering with physical evidence and false reporting to law enforcement. During her opening statement, Deputy Prosecutor Kauanoe Jackson went over the facts the prosecution will present to the jury throughout the trial.
“On March 1, 2015, Jeffrey Surnow said his last goodbyes to his wife and went on his morning bike ride,” Jackson said.
She told jurors there were witnesses who saw Surnow well off the shoulder while riding up Waikoloa Road and said he had a flashing red light behind his seat. She added there were witnesses who saw Buddemeyer move the bicycle and touch the victim’s body.
“Multiple witnesses passed the accident,” Jackson said. “they will tell you they didn’t see car parts or bikes on the roadway.”
Jackson added that those parts were eventually found “methodically placed” in the trunk of Buddemeyer’s police vehicle, as well as in the glove box.
“The defendant called it in as a hit and run,” she said. “The responsible party had left the scene.”
As officers began to arrive to the scene of the crash, Buddemeyer returned.
“As the scene unfolds, the defendant leads fellow officers on a series of stories,” Jackson said. “One story was he hit a pig.”
The prosecutor explained to the jury that evidence will show Buddemeyer asked another officer if he should report it.
“The defendant added to the story that he went and looked for a pig and then ran over a body,” Jackson said. “Eventually, the defendant told one of the officers that he hit the cyclist.”
Along with car and bike parts, Jackson told jurors a print impression of Surnow’s bicycle was made on Buddemeyer’s vehicle. Also inside were evidence collection gloves that had Surnow’s DNA on them.
“This is a tragic case of a good man who has passed,” said Brian De Lima, Buddemeyer’s defense counsel, during his opening statement. “This is not a criminal case. This was an accident.”
De Lima went on to explain the state of the road at the time of the crash. The roadway didn’t have a paved shoulder, and it was dark when his client impacted Surnow’s bike, he told jurors.
At the time, De Lima explained, Buddemeyer was stationed in Waimea. On Feb. 28, 2015, he had worked a 6:45 a.m.-3:30 p.m. shift. He was then scheduled to return later that evening at 10:30 p.m.
De Lima said Buddemeyer had seven hours of off-duty time to sleep, run errands and do whatever he needed to do before returning to work.
“Evidence will establish there is inherent and systemic issue with the policy in place that are not best practices,” De Lima said.
While there’s no disputing Buddemeyer hit Surnow, De Lima said, his client was traveling 35 mph; the cyclist’s bike didn’t have reflectors on the tires.
“Immediately upon impact, he thought he hit a pig,” De Lima said about Buddemeyer. “He did not think he’d hit a cyclist.”
De Lima told the jury that officers observed Buddemeyer the morning of the crash to be distraught, upset and in shock. Interviews of Buddemeyer conducted by psychiatrists show his client reacted with acute stress.
“Evidence will also concede that Mr. Buddemeyer was not speeding, not on his phone, not texting, not operating a vehicle in a negligent manner,” he said. “He had not been drinking or ingested drugs. It was an accident.”
The prosecution will begin calling witnesses today. Judge Melvin Fujino expects the trial to last about two weeks.
Email Tiffany DeMasters at tdemasters@westhawaiitoday.com.
