Three more Honolulu police officers have been added to the list of defendants who are accused in a civl lawsuit filed by relatives of an American Samoan man who died after being arrested by the officers in downtown Honolulu in March of last year.

The man, Sheldon Paul Haleck, is the son of American Samoa’s former police commissioner William Haleck, who along with Sheldon’s wife and other relatives are plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed Oct. 20 last year at the federal court in Honolulu.

The first three police officers named in the first complaint are Christopher Chung, Samantha Critchlow and Stephen Kardash — and all three filed in February this year a motion denying the allegations, asking the court to dismiss the complaint “with prejudice”. (See Samoa News online edition Feb. 13, 2016 for details).

However, on Mar. 28, the plaintiffs’ first amended complaint was filed at the Honolulu federal court, adding the names of police officers Chad Sano, Reynwood Makishi and Frank Pojsl. According to the amended complaint, Sheldon was allegedly wrongfully seized, denied his liberty and fatally assaulted by the six polices officers in violation of the victim’s constitutional rights.

The complaint alleges that Chung and Critchlow were questioning the deceased the evening of Mar. 16, 2015 on a street in downtown Honolulu, when all of a sudden Chung deployed his Taser, which struck Sheldon on the chest.

As Sheldon turned away and attempted to walk away from the officers, Chung deployed his Taser a second time, this time striking Sheldon in his back. Sheldon then fell to the ground, the complaint further alleges, and noted that when Chung and Critchlow were confronting the deceased — before being Tased — the other four officers arrived on the scene.

While on the ground, the four officers “then physically assaulted Sheldon as he lay on the ground on his back,” the plaintiffs allege, adding that the officers flipped Sheldon on to his stomach, restraining him on the ground for several minutes.

“PojsI then assaulted and restrained Sheldon by violently and forcefully planting his knee onto and across Sheldon’s neck and upper back, while other officers restrained and cuffed Sheldon’s hands and shackled his legs,” the Haleck family further alleges.

Based on information and belief, the plaintiffs further allege that “Sheldon was [then] dragged along the road to the sidewalk” by the six officers and that “Sheldon sustained injuries including but not limited to loss of consciousness, punctures to his chest and back, abrasions to his right forehead, right cheekbone, both feet, both knees, and inner left ankle, and swelling of both hands and both feet.”

It’s also alleged that the officer never warned Sheldon that he was going to be Tased twice, and that no officer warned Sheldon that he was under arrest prior to be being Tased. They claimed that Sheldon was unarmed at all times pertinent and was not threatening members of the public or any of the defendants.

As a result of actions by the six police officers, “Sheldon suffered fatal injures and died” the morning of Mar. 17, 2015, they alleged.

The amended complaint included other new information.

For example, the plaintiffs cite provisions of a Honolulu Police Department policy, in which police officers are permitted to “use reasonable force to effectively bring an incident under control” and are “restricted to the use of force that is “objectively reasonable” in light of the facts and circumstances as the officer perceived them to be at the time of the incident.”

However, the plaintiffs point to other language of the same provisions, which prohibits the use of unreasonable or excessive force. “Excessive force is defined as the amount of force which is beyond the need and circumstances of the particular event, or which is not justified in the light of all the circumstances.”

Plaintiffs allege that the police officers’ actions against Sheldon amounted to unreasonable and excessive force, which caused Sheldon’s injuries and his death.

As previously reported by Samoa News as well as Hawai’i based news organizations, the Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office autopsy report states that Sheldon died from “multiple metabolic and cardiac complications” and that he was “acutely intoxicated.”

The plaintiffs are seeking an unspecified amount of general and punitive damages to be proven at trial, which is currently scheduled for Feb. 14, 2017, with pre trial conference next January. However, the court has scheduled for May 17 this year a settlement conference hearing.

Other defendants in the case are the City and County of Honolulu and Honolulu Police Chief, Louis M. Kealoha.