Black lives
Questions remain in man’s death
Black Lives Matter protesters are continuing to raise questions about Maurice Abisdid-Wagner, a 30-year-old Massachusetts man who died in a Maui hospital hours after an encounter with police in July.
“We’re out here attempting to connect with the community and raise consciousness about the fact that systemic racial injustice is endemic in the criminal justice system throughout the entire United States, including Hawaii,” said former public defender Grace Shigetani during one of the weekly demonstrations held along Hana Highway earlier this month.
Participants said that the issues and frustrations that triggered Black Lives Matter demonstrations on the Mainland are also entrenched on Maui. Shigetani said she was particularly motivated to stand up for Abisdid-Wagner. She said she has been unable to get answers to the questions she has about how a mental health call led to the death of a Black man.
“He died after being arrested during a mental health crisis,” she said. “They tazed him, charged him with multiple felonies and then he died at the hospital. That’s the reason we’re out here, because this is not just a Mainland problem. I’m not going to stop saying his name until people understand this is not just a Mainland problem.”
North shore resident Jeremy Jarvis said he is for defunding the police.
“They are murderers whose salaries should not be paid for with our tax dollars,” he said. “This affects all of us.”
Kula’s Jiva Jive said, “I’m here to support the consciousness that Black lives matter.”
In response to protesters’ concerns, Maui police spokeswoman Lt. Audra Sellers said last week that officers weren’t responding to a mental health call but a harassment case when they were dispatched to a Maalaea condominium unit at 12:23 p.m. July 26. While Kihei patrol officers were on the way, Abisdid-Wagner called police dispatch numerous more times and in one call said someone with a firearm was trying to break into the residence, Sellers said.
When police arrived, they didn’t find anyone with a firearm but met with the unit owner, who was pounding on the door and said AbisdidWagner was a guest who had locked the owner out of the unit, police said.
When Abisdid-Wagner finally opened the door, he was sweating and uncooperative, with his behavior described as erratic and aggressive, Sellers said. She said officers asked for medics, but they were unable to assess Abisdid-Wagner because he was uncooperative. Medics were waiting in the hallway outside.
Officers tried to talk him down, but Abisdid-Wagner began to struggle with officers in the kitchen area, where knives were within reach, Sellers said. Police said one officer used a Taser to try to subdue AbisdidWagner, who took the Taser and used it on three officers.
Officers were able to subdue Abisdid-Wagner and arrested him for first-degree robbery for taking the Taser, three counts of first-degree assault on a police officer and disorderly conduct.
Police said Abisdid-Wagner sustained superficial wounds in the struggle.
Because of his behavior, police transported him to the Maui Memorial Medical Center emergency room for an evaluation, with the transport completed at about 1:30 p.m.
More than four hours later, at 5:52 p.m., Abisdid-Wagner was pronounced dead at the emergency room.
The cause of his death was undetermined after an autopsy done July 27. A preliminary toxicology report showed Abisdid-Wagner had amphetamine and the active ingredient of marijuana in his system, police said.
Sellers said Tuesday that the coroner was still waiting for toxicology reports, which may be delayed in the COVID-19 crisis.
Addressing protesters’ concerns, she said Abisdid-Wagner’s race wasn’t a factor.
“We serve everybody in the community,” she said. “We’ll respond to any calls for service, and we’re not going to know his ethnicity over the phone or radio unless somebody’s relaying that.
“The Maui Police Department wants to serve everybody in the community and will.”
At least two of the officers who responded to the call are part of the police Crisis Intervention Team of officers who have received training to help recognize and approach mentally ill people in crisis.
According to a July 2017 Facebook post by the Cambridge Police Department in Massachusetts, Abisdid-Wagner fled from officers, trying to hide in a tree and under a residential staircase before he was arrested on multiple warrants for offenses including credit card fraud, breaking and entering a building and unpaid parking tickets.
Shigetani said she is disappointed people on Maui are not speaking up more for AbisdidWagner and said demonstrators will continue to sign wave from 10 a.m. to noon Saturdays near the Hana Highway intersection with Haleakala Highway. She invited others to join in.