Myeni family calling on Honolulu police to come clean
The family of Lindani Myeni, the South African man who was shot dead by police in Hawaii, has called on police in Honolulu to provide evidence of what transpired on the night he was killed.
Jim Bickerton, the Myenis' attorney in Hawaii, says the Honolulu Police Department (HPD) is still hiding facts.
"We have not heard the 911 tapes or seen the body cam footage that precedes what they chose to release, and they are holding Lindani's phone as 'evidence'," says Bickerton.
"In shooting an unarmed man, the burden is on them and they have not come clean.”
Bickerton says they have been able to deduce some facts from the ill-fated incident.
"Notwithstanding HPD's claim of no racial issue here, Lindani was not even given the chance to hear the required words 'This is the police'.
"He was being treated aggressively and disrespectfully from the very beginning, even though the tape shows he was standing still.
"The failure of the officers to identify themselves as police is unconscionable.
"It was a moonless night and the tapes show a man having a flashlight shone in his face while a woman shouted 'That's him'.
"Lindani likely could only see lights and hear a woman yelling to the men holding the lights and a gun.
"If you point a flashlight and a gun in someone's eyes and tell them to get on the ground, the person can't see you but will know that you are not the police and that his life is in danger because the gunman does not say 'police'.
"Fight or flight is inevitable and if Lindani chose fight, that is HPD's fault.”
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