KAILUA-KONA — The trial for a former Hawaii Police Department officer accused of fatally striking a bicyclist in 2015 was delayed again after a Kona Circuit Court judge granted a continuance after initially denying the request in January.
KAILUA-KONA — The trial for a former Hawaii Police Department officer accused of fatally striking a bicyclist in 2015 was delayed again after a Kona Circuit Court judge granted a continuance after initially denying the request in January.
During a hearing Tuesday, Judge Melvin Fujino granted Jody Buddemeyer’s attorney, Brian De Lima, the continuance.
Buddemeyer’s trial is now scheduled for May 22.
“We expect that the expert reports will be completed prior to the set deadlines and we will then proceed to trial,” De Lima said after the hearing.
Buddemeyer pleaded not guilty in October 2016 to first-degree negligent homicide, tampering with physical evidence and making a false report to law enforcement in connection with the March 1, 2015, crash that killed Jeffrey Surnow, a 69-year-old visitor from Michigan.
Police say Buddemeyer was on duty and operating a subsidized patrol car eastbound when his vehicle struck and killed Surnow, who was riding a bicycle, near mile marker 11 on Waikoloa Road.
