Honolulu has resolved civil lawsuits over the 2021 Makaha crash for a combined $24 million, but the criminal case against four officers remains pending. A circuit court trial is set for April 26, 2027, more than five years after a police pursuit sent a car off Farrington Highway and into a field, leaving six people seriously injured. The case reached trial scheduling after years of delays, including an appeal to the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court.
The September 2021 crash left one teenage passenger paralyzed from the waist down and another with a permanently lost eye, according to Hawaii News Now. The outlet reports that the white sedan was traveling west on Farrington Highway when a Honolulu Police Department SUV followed it closely, with two marked HPD cars trailing a few seconds behind — though neither patrol car had activated lights or sirens. Prosecutors say officers were not authorized to chase the vehicle in the first place.
According to prosecutors, as cited by the same report, officers did not stop to help after the sedan rolled into the field and only returned to the scene after nearby residents called 911. The driver of that sedan, Jonaven Perkins-Sinapati, suffered a traumatic brain injury and spent six weeks in a coma, according to Honolulu Civil Beat, which reported the injury left him permanently unable to work.
Charges and the Fight Over a Key Legal Question
Former Officer Joshua Nahulu was charged with an accident involving serious bodily injury, while former officers Erik Smith and Jake Bartolome, along with Officer Robert Lewis III, were each charged with hindering prosecution and conspiracy, per the Hawaii News Now report. The four officers were arrested in 2023, and the criminal trial has since been postponed five times.
Much of the delay stemmed from an interlocutory appeal by Nahulu's attorney, who sought to dismiss the serious-bodily-injury charge because his SUV did not collide with the sedan before its driver lost control. Attorney Victor Bakke described the appeal as a hail mary, Hawaii News Now reports. On July 2, 2026, the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court rejected the appeal, ruling in a decision that physical contact is not required for a driver to be legally involved in a collision under state law. Attorney Megan Kau said a driver can be involved in a collision without impact, the station reported. The ruling allowed the case to proceed; it did not determine guilt or innocence. The case has returned to circuit court.
Pursuit Records and Policy Scrutiny
A Civil Beat analysis of more than 140 HPD pursuit reports from 2017 to 2019 found that nearly a third involved a collision; injuries were documented in more than 42% of those collisions. Civil Beat also reported that HPD said it would take a fresh look at its pursuit policy, but the reporting cited here does not establish whether that review led to policy changes or what they were.
A $24 Million Toll on Taxpayers
While the criminal case crawled through appeals, the City and County of Honolulu quietly closed out its civil exposure. The city settled all related lawsuits for a combined $24 million across three separate agreements, according to Hawaii News Now. The breakdown shows just how severe the injuries were: Perkins-Sinapati's $12.5 million settlement, approved by the Honolulu City Council in March 2024, was the largest single payout, per Hawaii Public Radio.
Dayten Gouveia, who was 14 at the time of the crash and left partially paralyzed, reached a $7 million settlement with the city in June 2024 — the final passenger to resolve a claim after filing both state and federal lawsuits, according to Civil Beat's reporting on the agreement. Four other passengers injured in the crash, who suffered broken ribs, spinal fractures and permanent eye damage, had already settled with the city for a combined $4.5 million back in February 2023, before any criminal charges were filed, per the AP News account of the settlement timeline.
The city also disputed whether it should be held responsible. In December 2023, Honolulu attorneys argued that the officers' conduct was “so outrageous” that it fell outside the scope of their municipal employment, seeking to avoid liability. Plaintiff attorney Eric Seitz said he had never seen such a motion and called it “morally, ethically, and professionally bankrupt,” according to Civil Beat. The city ultimately settled the claims.
Discipline, Grievances and an Unusual Path to Charges
Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Steve Alm filed felony charges against the four officers in March 2023, per News From The States. If convicted, Nahulu faces up to 10 years in prison for the Class B felony, while Smith, Bartolome and Lewis each face up to five years on the Class C hindering-prosecution charge, the outlet reported.
The Honolulu Police Department fired Nahulu, Smith and Bartolome in February 2024 following an internal investigation, while Lewis received a three-day suspension and remained on the force, Hawaii News Now reports. All three terminated officers have since filed administrative union grievances to fight their firings. The officers later rescinded their requests for legal representation, per reporting on police misconduct costs.
The case comes amid broader scrutiny of HPD pursuit practices. The Hawaiʻi Supreme Court ruling has also been discussed in connection with a separate Farrington Highway hit-and-run, as Hoodline previously reported.
With the Supreme Court’s rejection of Nahulu’s appeal now final, the trial set for April 26, 2027 will center on whether officers’ actions directly forced the sedan off the road and whether the four conspired to cover up the pursuit afterward. All civil liability has been resolved; only the criminal questions remain.
