does anyone else think that the first problem in this whole case was deedy's co-worker explaining to him that f'in haole was the same as the n-word?
if it wasn't for that advice, deedy probably would not have been carrying, and he wouldn't have over-reacted so much to elderts
Macsac, I see what you mean here.
Deedy overheard Elderts', Medeiros' and Perrine's drunken banter at the McDonalds counter and probably got offended enough to want to intervene.
The briefing by Deedy's co-worker that "f'kin haole" was the same as calling a black guy the n-word, plus the "hey I'm local too" conversation probably got mis-interpreted by Deedy as truly racist and made him want to give the local punk an educational beatdown. If you know locals, we all have "insults" for all our various races but this is done in fun.
There are two things I think here:
1. For Deedy's trial - Deedy probably is going to get acquitted since shooting Elderts as a result of an escalated fight would be justifiable homicide, especially since Deedy is a LEO. Elderts attacking him and the ensuing struggle for Deedy's gun = Deedy was getting his ass kicked and he probably had to use his gun to save his butt.
2. For Deedy's career - Deedy showed poor judgment as a security detail that night and his supervisors should probably review if he should continue serving in this capacity.
A. Even if the prosecution has no evidence of his intoxication and only has witness testimonies, he was under the influence enough that night resulting in his bad judgment.
If he says he wasn't intoxicated, it's even worse for him... Poor judgment while sober.
B. He intervened when he didn't need to and was party to instigating a fight with Elderts.
C. If he thought something needed LEO intervention, he failed to control the situation, failed to de-escalate, got his ass kicked, and made a non-dangerous situation dangerous and endangering other bystanders.
D. As a visitor and a security detail for an event, it is bad policy to go out getting drunk, picking a fight with and killing a local. Bad press for the event. Since he is "highly trained", he should have known better and should have shown more restraint.
Anyway, I would be concerned if Deedy was allowed to continue serving as a security detail after this trail is over. Especially not after seeing his poor judgement and being able to get away with murder because he was a power tripping drunk LEO. As a regular citizen, I wound not want him to go to prison but I would not want him to continue having that LEO power also.
If I may add another observation... this trial is hitting a nerve with so many people here locally. If you've lived in Hawaii long enough, you know how locals feel about short-lived mainlanders, those that come here being all "hot stuff", find out they cannot make it and end up leaving the locals holding the bag. This stuff has deep roots and has a historical imprint on the local psyche. Note: I am not talking about race here but learned experience from past behavior, disappointments or broken promises.