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Maui Police Say Fatal Shooting Justified

Brother Questions Police Use Of Force

POSTED: 3:43 pm HST March 4, 2004
UPDATED: 10:19 am HST March 5, 2004

Maui's police chief said Thursday the use of deadly force that killed a man on a Kihei beach was justifiable.

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The shooting happened on a Kihei beach Sunday evening. It started when a woman called police because a homeless man had exposed himself to her daughters, police said.

A person in the area tried to assist an officer in detaining Ben Ogden (pictured, right). Ogden shot the person with bear repellant, according to police.

"At that point, the officer got between the suspect Ogden and the citizen. (The officer) attempted to deploy his pepper spray, but was sprayed with bear repellant," Maui Police Department Chief Tom Phillips said. "The officer drew his weapon at that point; ordered Ogden to the ground. (He gave) several verbal commands. Ogden continued toward the officer... continued to spray the officer with the repellant. The officer eventually fired at Ogden."

bear repellantThe officer hit Ogden with two or three shots, MPD said. Ogden went down to ground at that point.

The officer went to ocean and tried to flush his eyes out from the bear repellant. Then, Ogden began to stand up and approach the officer. The officer told Ogden to stay down, but he continued toward the officer spraying the repellant, according to witnesses.

That's when police said the officer fired three to four shots at Ogden again. Police said six shots were fired; four hit Ogden. One bullet went through his arm. The others hit him in the body.

Police said the fatal shot severed Ogden's spinal cord and another shot hit him in the shoulder, traveling right to left across his body, according to an autopsy report.

beachAt this point, police said the officer called for backup. Several officers arrived in minutes.

"I can say the officer's face was very swollen and he was completely incapable of seeing much at all. His eyes were totally bloodshot," Lt. Glenn Cuomo said.

The shooting was the second police shooting in a week. However, Phillips said officers are facing more cases out in the field, including assaults on police.

Ben Ogden's brother, Mike Ogden, said he believes Maui police used excessive force.

"It doesn't take that many shots to take a guy down. And I'm under the impression he might have got shot even after he was down. I don't know that for sure, but when you get shot by a bullet that police use, you think it would take four to bring a guy down?" Mike Ogden said.

"Don't think we're trigger-happy at all. I think we have the right to protect ourselves, certainly," Phillips said.

Police continue both a criminal and internal investigation in the case. The chief said it's not yet clear when the officer will return to duty. Ogden was a former Marine receiving federal disability income.

Mike Ogden said his brother did not have a regular address living on Maui and that he did odd jobs to supplement his income.

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