LAHAINA, HI — More than two months after the deadly wildfire in Hawaii’s historic town of Lahaina, police released body camera video of some of the rescue efforts.
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For the first time, we are seeing footage from the Maui police officers’ perspectives, as they jumped into danger as the fires on Maui raged all around them.
An officer threw himself into a fence, creating an opening for people to escape the flames. You can hear the fear in the officer’s voice. There is also video of officers going door to door, helping people leave their homes.
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The Maui Police Department released the video to cooperate with requests for information. More than 20 hours of video will be released from officers in Lahaina and Upcountry.
Chief John Pelletier said he hopes the videos show the real response from officers. He said they are still dissecting the response from Aug. 8, but there are already areas where policies can improve.
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Currently, the policy has officers turn on their body cameras once they arrive at the scene. Pelletier said he would like to change that to officers turning on their cameras once they are dispatched.
“So, let’s say you’re dispatched to an individual with a gun call. As opposed to just arriving and them turning it on, let’s just say you’re ambushed by the bad guy when you arrive. Now, the incident and that bad guy’s actions are now recorded versus that not happening, so it’s not the fault of any officer not activating,” he explained.
Pelletier said the department plans on releasing a preliminary after-action report at the start of next year but said a full-detailed report could take up to a couple of years to be released.
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