The Honolulu City Council on Wednesday approved legal payouts totaling millions of dollars to settle lawsuits filed against the Honolulu Police Department and Prosecuting Attorney’s office.

The largest award was $5.25 million to settle a case involving a driver who was being chased by an HPD officer when he crashed into pedestrians near the Ala Moana shopping center in 2019. The collision killed Casimir Pokorny, Reino Ikeda and William Travis Lau and injured others. The lawsuit was filed by Pokorny’s mother, Gail Garin and Ikeda’s husband Noato Ikeda as well as Lianna McCurdy and Daniel Verderame, who were injured in the crash.

In another case, Chelsea Horikawa sued the city last year after she alleged that HPD officers, without provocation, tackled her from behind and pushed her face into the ground during a May 2020 incident. Her case was settled for $80,000.

The case of Sarah Vargas, a woman who said she was sexually assaulted by an on-duty HPD officer in 2017, has also come to a close. Vargas was extremely intoxicated at the time and could not consent to have sex, according to her 2019 lawsuit, which was settled for $75,000.

Lastly, Julie Ake sued police and former prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro in 2019 after she said she was wrongfully arrested and prosecuted for attempted murder despite surveillance video that she said exonerated her. Council members approved a $50,000 settlement with Ake.

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