The Hawaii County Council is poised to authorize up to $50,000 plus expenses to defend former police officer Jody Buddemeyer, who is accused of fatally striking a bicyclist with his patrol car while on duty.
The county has to hire an outside attorney because the office of Corporation Counsel is tasked with civil cases and is precluded from representing defendants in criminal cases, Corporation Counsel Joe Kamelamela said Monday.
The selection of an attorney to represent Buddemeyer, and the hourly rate the attorney will be paid, remain confidential until a contract is finalized, Kamelamela said. That’s scheduled to be voted on by the Council on Wednesday after it hears details in executive session.
Kamelamela said under county procurement code his office considered and evaluated several attorneys from the professional procurement list before selecting one and negotiating an hourly rate.
“We look at the hourly rate, the reasonableness of it,” Kamelamela said.
The move comes after the county Police Commission in March approved taxpayer-backed representation for Buddemeyer.
“If they’re on duty they should be represented,” Chairman Keith Morioka said at the time. “It is not our job to decide whether or not someone is guilty.”
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.”
Buddemeyer, of Pahoa, pleaded not guilty in October to charges of 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 operating a subsidized patrol car eastbound and was on duty when his vehicle struck and killed Surnow as he rode his bicycle east up Waikoloa Road. The collision, which Buddemeyer reported at 6:25 a.m., occurred near mile marker 11.
An officer involved in circumstances matching Buddemeyer’s has since been terminated from the force, according to a discipline report that did not name him.
Buddemeyer has thus far been represented by Hilo attorney Brian De Lima. Trial is set for May 30 in Kona.
Email Nancy Cook Lauer at ncook-lauer@westhawaiitoday.com.
