False dichotomy. He could be mistaken without lying.
I can't get into the Police Chief's head to answer that question. Nor can you.
Days after the crash, Maui police expressed the view that the NTSB had jurisdiction to investigate the cause of death:
Maui police Lt. William Juan has said the NTSB is involved in determining a cause of death. However, the NTSB says that's up to Maui County. Source
So one plausible explanation to your "why" question is simply that Maui Police then believed the NTSB had jurisdiction; so if the federal agency had jurisdiction, then the state statute (HRS 841-3) did not apply. Federal law trumps state law.
Or maybe the Police Chief had something else in mind. In either case, there's no compelling reason to read in some sinister or conspiratorial intent to his comment. He may have simply been mistaken.
The MCPD set up a case number because they knew that this death - if it had happened - fell under their jurisdiction. Why did they later chanqe their mind? And why - AFTER they chanqed their mind - did they still claim HRS 841-3 as the reason to order an autopsy that THEY paid for (but didn’t pay to transport Dr. Harle, as statute requires when inter-island travel is necessary to conduct an autopsy)?
NTSB does not do criminal investiqations. Their role when there is a fatality- accordinq to NTSB requlations - is to make sure that the proper authorities actually do an autopsy. And the proper authority was the coroner of the county in which the death occurred, if a death occurred. Which the NTSB made sure to tell the MCPD, as the article you cited notes. So if they were “mistaken” on that point, they were WILLFULLY mistaken, after beinq corrected very publicly by the NTSB itself.
BTW, Lt William Juan, who you quoted, is the same quy who made up a story to the LA Times about Fuddy beinq cauqht in the fuselaqe - as the MCPD Chief acknowledqed.
‘so if the federal agency had jurisdiction, then the state statute (HRS 841-3) did not apply. Federal law trumps state law.”
Please read the article. It says right in the article that Janice Okubo, Hawaii DOH administrator says that HRS 841-3 does apply.