KEALAKEKUA — A new trial date has been set for a former Hawaii Police Department officer charged with negligent homicide for allegedly fatally striking a bicyclist in March 2015.
Kona Circuit Court Judge Melvin Fujino set the jury trial for Jody Buddemeyer, a Pahoa resident, for May 30, resuming proceedings in the case after a mental fitness exam conducted by a panel of three doctors found Buddemeyer fit to stand trial.
Buddemeyer had been slated to go on trial Jan. 24 on charges of first-degree negligent homicide, tampering with physical evidence and making a false report to law enforcement; however, Fujino suspended proceedings following a motion by attorney Brian De Lima for the exam. The state did not object to the motion.
Neither prosecutor Stephen Frye nor attorney Robert D.S. Kim, who made a special appearance with Buddemeyer on behalf of De Lima, requested a hearing on the matter of fitness on Friday. Both declined comment after the hearing; Kim deferred comment to De Lima.
De Lima, reached by phone later Friday, said he would be “proceeding accordingly,” pointing out that there are three pending counts filed against his client and that the doctors’ reports received by the court “supports dismissal of a finding of not guilty as to counts two and three,” tampering with physical evidence and making a false report to law enforcement.
“My understanding is that the reports indicate that at the time of the allegation that the defendant cannot be found guilty due to the issue of capacity after the occurrence of the accident,” he said.
Buddemeyer entered a not guilty plea in October after being indicted on the three charges in connection with the fatal March 1, 2015, crash that killed Jeffrey Surnow, a 69-year-old visitor from Michigan. Police said after the crash that Buddemeyer was operating eastbound a subsidized patrol car and was on-duty when his vehicle struck and killed Surnow, of West Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, as he rode his bicycle eastbound up Waikoloa Road that morning. The collision, which Buddemeyer reported at 6:25 a.m., occurred near mile marker 11.
First responders with the Hawaii Fire Department initially reported the incident as a hit-and-run after Surnow was found lying face down near a “severely damaged” bicycle on the road’s shoulder. They noted he had died prior to their arrival.
Buddemeyer was subsequently arrested on suspicion of negligent homicide and released pending further investigation.
He was placed on administrative leave pending investigation. A police misconduct report presented to the Hawaii County Police Commission in February 2016, which does not include names because of state law, said an officer was terminated in 2015 for tampering with the scene after being involved in a traffic fatality. Buddemeyer is no longer on the department’s sworn personnel list.
Buddemeyer was listed as a “new hire” in the police department’s 2012-13 annual report. He was issued a commendation in the fourth quarter of 2014, along with Officer Cory Gray, for initiative that turned a routine traffic stop into arrests for a stolen vehicle, drug offenses, and others.
Honolulu Police Department Spokeswoman Sarah Yoro said after the indictment that Buddemeyer worked for the Oahu department from 2011 to 2013. In response to questions about the separation, including if there was a positive or negative recommendation for hiring by another agency, Yoro said the department could not comment on the circumstances.
Meanwhile, the police commission on Feb. 17 postponed a decision on whether taxpayers should foot the bill for Buddemeyer’s defense. The commission plans to take up the issue again at its March 17 meeting at the West Hawaii Civic Center.
State law requires the county to pay for representation for officers prosecuted for a crime or sued in a civil action for acts done in the performance of the officer’s duty as a police officer. But it also gives the police commissions authority to determine whether the act was done “in the performance of the police officer’s duty.”
“We’re following the process for which a police officer has when he’s on-duty and is entitled to have his representation based on the fact that these allegations arose while he was on-duty,” De Lima said Friday. “We expect that those who need to make a decision will follow the law.”