Salt Lake sidewalk defect tied to man's death settled for $2.5 million

The city of Honolulu has agreed to pay $2.5 million to the family of a 53-year-old man who died after tripping on a cracked sidewalk in the Salt Lake neighborhood. The settlement resolved a lawsuit filed following the October 2024 incident that left Brad Kimura paralyzed.

Kimura fell before dawn on Oct. 21, 2024, while walking his dog on Ala Naupaka Street. He tripped on a crack that stood 3 inches high. Police officers arrived to find him conscious but unable to move his arms or legs. Body camera footage shows Kimura telling an officer he could not feel his extremities. He suffered immediate quadriplegia, which prevented him from breathing deeply enough to clear his lungs. He died nine months later of pneumonia.

Mike Cruise, the attorney for the Kimura family, stated that Kimura’s primary concern after the injury was ensuring his parents received proper care. Cruise described the subsequent months as a painful process for the family, noting that Kimura passed away alone at a hospice facility. Mildred Tamashiro, who appeared in a tribute video, expressed regret that no family member was present at the time of his death.

City policy classifies cracks that cause trips as the highest priority for repair, with a 30-day window to fix them. However, the crack that injured Kimura remained unrepaired for more than a year. A work order was not issued until April 2025, six months after the fall and two weeks after the lawsuit began. Crews did not complete the repair until November 2025. The defect had been growing for at least nine years, according to the report.

Tyler Sugihara, the former chief of the city’s Division of Road Maintenance, testified in a video deposition that the inspection program was largely reactive rather than proactive. He noted that staff did not have dedicated inspectors to perform routine checks of high-traffic areas. Sugihara said crews repairing other sections of the street likely missed the specific crack because their resources were limited to checking adjacent properties.

The city established a 311 call-in program after the accident to help residents report broken sidewalks and track responses. The city declined to comment on whether repair response times have improved since the lawsuit was filed. Cruise said the settlement amount will be used to fulfill Kimura’s wish of supporting his parents.

The settlement was finalized last month. The case highlighted gaps between written maintenance procedures and on-the-street reality in the Salt Lake area. The repair of the sidewalk section on Ala Naupaka Street was completed in November 2025.