The United States police shooting to death of a South African rugby player Lindani Myeni in Honolulu will be probed to see what exactly happened for the unarmed athlete to lose his life under a hail of bullets from police officers two weeks ago, APA learnt on Friday.
Myeni’s remains are expected to return home on Saturday, press reports said.
Under pressure from the player’s family in South Africa, the US state of Hawaii’s prosecutor, Steve Alm, announced the launch of the independent investigation into Myeni’s killing as he was visiting a Honolulu neighbourhood on the night of 14 April.
The 29-year-old rugby player from eSikhawini in the north of the KwaZulu Natal province was reportedly shot four times by police officers responding to a “burglary in progress” at a home in Nuuanu, Hawaii.
According to Alm, the launch of the probe was in no way a commentary on the actions of police but an effort to bring greater independence and transparency to the investigation.
“I believe it is critical to have an independent but thorough objective investigation into both of these cases and for any future police involved shootings of civilians,” Alm said.
He added: “To achieve that, I am assigning teams of seasoned prosecutors and investigators to the shooting incident. They (prosecutors) have extensive experience both in the state system and the federal system to investigate this recent case in Nuuanu.”
Alm also said the Honolulu Police Department was cooperating with his investigation, but provided no clear timelines for when he hoped to conclude his probe into the Myeni case, according to Myeni’s family.
Ironically, Myeni’s wife Lindsey and his two children were set to visit his family in South Africa in June.
Now they are expected to return home with his remains instead, landing at the OR Tambo International Airport on Saturday before being taken to Richards Bay in the southeast of the country.
NM/jn/APA