Police chief in Hawaii accused of mocking Asians ‘squinted his eyes’
- Internal investigation found Kauai police chief Todd Raybuck violated discrimination policies
- Local mayor urges community give police chief a chance to ‘explain his actions’
The police chief on the Hawaiian island of Kauai mocked people of Asian descent and in one case “squinted his eyes” and bowed his head while mimicking someone with a Japanese accent, a discrimination investigation found.
In another incident, Kauai police chief Todd Raybuck relayed a story of meeting someone of Asian descent in a restaurant in which he parodied the person’s speech and mannerisms, the investigation by the Kauai Police Commission said.
The chief, according to internal documents obtained by The Garden Island newspaper, said the person had a haircut that looked like something out of a “Kung Fu movie”.
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Raybuck violated county discrimination policies and created a hostile work environment for an officer based on race, the investigation found. Both are cause for “appropriate corrective action”, said a February 26 letter about the investigation written by commission chair Catherine Adams.
The recipient of the letter was not disclosed.
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Kauai Mayor Derek Kawakami said if the allegations against Raybuck are true, they are hurtful, particularly to Asian-Americans. He said discrimination cannot be tolerated.
“These allegations do not reflect the Chief Raybuck that I know and work closely with,” Kawakami said.
The mayor – who noted he is the grandson of a Japanese immigrant – urged the community to not let this be the focus of the police department and of the island.
“I humbly ask our people to not play the role of judge and jury, and that we give our chief a chance to explain himself and his actions,” Kawakami said.
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Raybuck’s office has not yet commented on the report.
The commission received an internal complaint against Raybuck in September. The investigation found two incidents that year, on July 29 and November 13, violated the county’s discrimination policy, according to Adams’ letter.
One of them an involved an employee of Japanese descent wasn’t chosen for a promotion.
Other incidents involving complaints of favouritism and retaliation for not promoting someone were not supported by a separate investigation, according to another internal letter obtained by the newspaper, this one from county Director of Human Resources Annette Anderson.
Raybuck became the Kauai police chief in 2019, following his retirement after nearly 27 years from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
