No Charges For Police In Death Of Man Who Rammed Their Vehicle

No charges will be filed against two officers who fatally shot a man in Mākaha last June after he rammed a pickup into their police vehicle, causing the cop car’s engine to burst into flames. 

The Honolulu prosecutor’s office, which investigated the shooting, found the officers’ use of deadly force was justified because they feared for their lives and were trying to protect themselves and others, Prosecuting Attorney Steve Alm said Tuesday. 

The officers were following Iosua Stevens on the afternoon of June 24, 2025, as he drove through Mākaha in a stolen F-250 truck. Stevens was wanted on four bench warrants and had assaulted an officer and fled during a previous arrest attempt earlier that month, Alm said. 

The officers, who are with the department’s Crime Reduction Unit, were not wearing body cameras and were driving an unmarked, black Nissan Altima. 

They followed the F-250 onto a dirt road leading to a residence off Hana Street at around 3:45 p.m.. When they were about 300 feet behind the truck, the officers activated their blue lights and sirens to make Stevens aware that they were police officers. 

At that point, Stevens accelerated, kicking up dirt, rocks and debris, and drove the truck in reverse at a high speed toward the Nissan Altima.  The truck’s rear bumper rammed the front of the Altima, pushing the car backwards and sideways, causing it to ram up against a fence. A fire ignited in the Altima’s engine compartment. 

One of the officers shouted “Police!” and “Stop the truck!” repeatedly, but Stevens continued to ram the car, according to Alm. 

The officers were afraid they might get run over if they exited the car, and they were afraid they’d be burned if they stayed inside, Alm said. At that point, they both fired their guns towards the truck, striking Stevens multiple times. 

The F-250 stopped revving, and one of the officers got out of the car and opened the truck’s driver’s side door. Stevens fell out of the driver’s seat into the officer’s arms, and the officer laid him on the ground. 

The officers then radioed dispatch to request an ambulance, and they both carried Stevens away from the burning vehicle and administered first aid, according to Alm. 

When paramedics arrived, they brought Stevens to Queen’s Medical Center in critical condition. Stevens, 38, died at the hospital two days later. 

Alm said officers had activated their lights and announced themselves as police before Stevens rammed them with his truck. He said the officers were in fear for their lives when they shot Stevens, and their use of deadly force was necessary in order to protect themselves. 

The Honolulu prosecutor's office regularly investigates fatal shootings by Honolulu police, but those investigations almost never result in criminal charges for the officers. The last time charges were filed against officers was in the 2021 killing of Iremamber Sykap,who was 16. Alm filed charges against three officers despite a grand jury failing to indict, and a judge later threw out the case. 

Victor Bakke, a criminal defense attorney who formerly worked for the Honolulu Prosecutor’s Office, said county prosecutors shouldn’t be the ones investigating officer-involved shootings by their own police departments because prosecutors and police work so closely together. The investigations should be handled by the Attorney General’s Office or an independent investigating body, he said. 

“This doesn't look good to the public,” he said.  “You know, we can't be working with the police hand-in-hand every day and then also sit in judgment of them and make the decision whether or not the case should be charged.”

'Our Children Miss Him Terribly'

Stevens’ sister, Naomi Patterson, described her brother as a kind person who loved his family. The family is from American Samoa and adopted Stevens from Western Samoa at a young age, Peterson said. They moved to Waiʻanae when he was around 4 years old. 

“This is our home,” she said. “We’ve all grown up here, raised our families here.” 

Stevens had three older sisters, plus a hānai sister he was very close with. He had 17 nieces and nephews. 

“He was a wonderful uncle,” Patterson said. “Our children miss him terribly.” 

Stevens loved the water and was well-known in the Mākaha surfing community. He also loved working the āina and was known to help with community garden projects. 

He worked at Wai Kai, a water park in ʻEwa Beach, and Kanaka Solutions, a Native Hawaiian-owned security company. 

But he also struggled with addition to meth and narcotics for most of his adult life, Patterson said. His mental health deteriorated after their father died two years ago. Stevens was in jail at the time after having been arrested for stealing lawn equipment from a hardware store. 

Stevens was released on bail in May of that year, but failed to appear for some of his future court dates. Judge Trish Morikawa issued a bench warrant for him on June 5, 2025, ordering his arrest. 

Patterson said his family members encouraged him to turn himself in, but he didn’t want to go back to jail. 

“I don’t know exactly where his mindset was, but it really just felt like he gave up,” she said. 

The day of the shooting in Mākaha, Stevens had come to Patterson’s house to clean her yard — an act of kindness that reflected who her brother truly was. 

After the shooting, Patterson said her family has been disappointed by a lack of communication from police and prosecutors. They were unaware, she said, that Alm was hosting a press conference Tuesday to announce the officers would not be charged. 

She said she also wants answers about what happened in the moments after her brother was shot. 

Alm said officers performed “life-saving measures” on Stevens while they waited for an ambulance to arrive. But Patterson said she spoke to neighbors who witnessed the shooting and did not see the officers tending to Stevens. 

“That’s always been the question for us,” she said. “Did they even try?” 

She said it’s been hard to see people who hardly knew her brother make negative assumptions about him on social media. But she wants people to know that he had a kind heart. 

“I hold no illusions that my brother was a perfect person,” she said. “But he was a good person. He really and truly was.”