Parents of Hilo man shot and killed by police sues Hawaii County

HONOLULU (KHON2) — The family of the Hilo man who was shot and killed by police in June 2021 is suing the County.

The parents of Daniel Buckingham filed the wrongful death lawsuit on Wednesday, Aug. 25, that claimed police never identified themselves.

The shooting happened on Friday, June 18, while officers were responding to reports of a home break-in on Kilauea Avenue.

Police said Buckingham was hiding in one of the bedrooms and lunged at the officers with knives, cutting one of them. That’s when police opened fire.

“Who is lunging at who is very hard to accept the police version that he lunged at them. He’s in the room, they’re outside the room coming in with guns drawn, and he doesn’t know who they are cuz’ they haven’t said who’s coming in,” said attorney Jim Bickerton.

“They’re really trying to paint this distorted narrative that he’s a bad actor who was aggressive and tried to hurt them and they had no choice but to shoot him,” said Buckingham’s mother, Mary.

The lawsuit did not specify damages Buckingham’s parents are seeking. KHON2 reached out to the County for comment and is waiting to hear back.