Pacific Magazine > Daily News

American Samoa Baby Dies While Detained At Honolulu Airport

Wednesday: February 13, 2008

(Honolulu Advertiser)

A 14-day old boy from American Samoa, who was traveling to Hawaii for heart surgery, died yesterday while being detained by U.S. immigration officials at the Honolulu International Airport, the Honolulu Advertiser reports.

The infant was identified by the Honolulu Medical Examiner's Office as Michael Futi of Tafuna, American Samoa. He was traveling to Hawaii with his mother and a nurse, and arrived at 5:30 a.m. aboard a Hawaiian Airlines flight.

Rick Fried, a Honolulu lawyer retained by the Futi family, said that immigration officials detained the American Samoa party in a locked room at the airport. A state Transportation Department spokesman said the boy went into respiratory failure while being detained in the customs office. He said paramedics were called about 6:30 a.m.

Fried, who is one of Hawaii's top plaintiff's attorneys, said the family plans to file a wrongful death lawsuit, the newspaper reported.

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080212/NEWS01/802120340/1190/NEWS01