Maui police boast Office of Coroner award after reports they mishandled remains of fire victims

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – In a Facebook post, some fire survivors were outraged after the Maui Police Department showed a photo of an award honoring its “coroner’s office” for outstanding work following the Lahaina disaster.

The post arrived just a few days later. HNN Investigates published an interview with a former department morgue contractor. who said the recovery process was so poorly managed that the ashes the families received may not have been their loved ones.

On October 3, before the interview aired, HNN Investigates asked MPD if it was following protocols to carefully and accurately recover the remains of people killed in the Lahaina fire. Chief John Pelletier declined to answer our questions.

Then, six days after the story aired, MPD took to Facebook to announce that its “Office of the Coroner” had been awarded the 2024 Legal-Medical Department of the Year award for its excellence in investigating deaths following last year’s wildfire. This is an office that HNN Investigates cannot confirm the existence of, despite asking MPD directly.

According to the International Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners website, the award was presented several months ago.

In a Facebook post dated Oct. 14, MPD wrote, “Please join us in congratulating them on this wonderful accomplishment!”

That message didn’t sit well with some fire survivors like Rick Nava. He spoke to us from the construction site while crews were rebuilding the home he lost in last year’s fire.

“When I saw it, I thought: Really? This is from our management, are you doing this? No! You don’t do that,” he said. “It’s childish.”

“This is part of their PR campaign against the media and the truth,” Stanford Hill added. “Why don’t they just answer your questions? Your questions are our questions.”

Seven of Hill’s friends died when flames consumed Hale Mahaola Eono, a retirement community on Lahainaluna Road.

HNN investigates

He says much of what officials have told them about who was found and where doesn’t add up.

“I think it would be in poor taste to put up a photo of this award,” Hill said.

HNN Investigates asked MPD why the company decided to publish a photo of the award. We have not received a response.

“When you’re in that position, you have to be ready to take a bullet coming your way. They didn’t. They hid behind a suitcase with trophies,” Nava said.

Common Cause Hawaii program manager Camron Hurt told HNN Investigates he believes the position is “classless,” saying, “I would expect more from people who claim to protect and serve. Because at this moment you are protecting and serving only yourself. Not a community.”

Former MPD morgue contractor Grayson Abarra said that in the days after Lahaina was burned, officers and recruits were ordered to collect victims’ remains despite a lack of proper training.

Abarra says that as soon as he noticed that proper procedures were not being followed, he immediately provided MPD management with a copy of the Maui County Mass Fatality Response Plan, as well as a field operations manual that explained step-by-step what needed to be done.

When asked how MPD responded, Abarra responded, “I don’t think the problem was understood.”

Now Hurt and community members are calling on the Maui Police Commission to take action.

“They can start by calling the police chief and getting him to answer their questions. As well as questions and concerns from the public. I think it’s very important at this point,” Hurt said.

Nava said, “You may not like the question that comes to your mind. But you know what, people have a right to know how these things were decided.”

“We need accountability,” Hill added.

The Maui Police Commission has canceled its regularly scheduled meeting in October. We asked them why, but there was no answer to our question.

HNN Investigates also reached out to the International Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners, the organization that presented MPD with its award, for comment on the new information. We also asked whether MPD would be able to keep the award.

We are waiting for an answer.

Meanwhile, the head of Common Cause Hawaii shared this message: “We are calling for action. We want to see community mobilization across the state at the next Maui Police Commission meeting.”

Hurt went on to say, “We encourage everyone to come in person. Maui still needs us. So let’s help raise that voice.”

The next Police Commission meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, November 20 at 10 a.m. at the Maui Service Center on Alaihi Road. Click here for more details.

In a statement received after the HNN broadcast deadline, MPD spokesperson Alana Pico wrote:

“Thank you for noticing this award from the International Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners. They received this award thanks to the efforts of the forensic team made up of our medical experts and the work they carried out during the August 2023 bushfires. Additionally, the Hawaii Law Enforcement and Safety Coalition proudly presented our forensic team with the Judge C. Niels Tavares Award last week at the Top Cop Hawaii event for their outstanding efforts in identifying Maui fire victims.

It is critical to understand that discussing and continuing to discuss events that occurred 14 months ago can cause great pain to our affected community and those who have lost loved ones. We want to be very careful when these wounds reopen.

Regarding your questions, all of the information you are seeking has been thoroughly documented in the reports of the Hawaii Attorney General and MPD. The GPS coordinates are shown in our impact report and the coordinates were published in the Attorney General’s report. In terms of protocols, we have leveraged the best practices of our federal partners who have worked with us, particularly the FEMA USAR teams (it should be noted that these teams worked on 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina recovery and are leading experts). We are also fortunate to have a Defense Department team that assists in the recovery of prisoners of war and missing in action. This is the maximum possible threshold and this is the practice followed. We used all available personnel, including police officers who were at the Academy at the time, as well as other first responders, and they all did a wonderful job.

The initial rescue efforts that day and subsequent days, which unfortunately quickly turned into recovery, are a painful and traumatic situation for all involved, and we sympathize and understand those who have lost loved ones. We continually strive to be proactive and provide information not only to our department, but also to departments nationally and internationally where critical incidents may occur. The dramatic catastrophic and dynamic events caused by the multiple fires plaguing Maui have evolved rapidly, and where we can improve the situation we will certainly address them. We thank the community for its resilience, trust and patience as we move forward.

Law and statutes designate the chief of police and other state leaders as coroner. As stated in our impact report, the police department operates a forensic center that includes a morgue.

We ask that you use our answer for your story, not in parts, but in its entirety.”

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