Settlement reached in deadly 2016 fall at Ala Moana Center

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - The owners of Ala Moana Center have settled a lawsuit over a 2016 railing collapse that led to the death of a young man.

Nicolas Freitas, a 2013 graduate of Roosevelt High School, died in the accident. A friend he was with, Macky Nagato, was badly injured and left with a serious brain injury.

Nagato survived and is now wheelchair-bound.

They were at the mall celebrating Nagato’s 21st birthday when the railing near the former Pearl wine bar apparently gave way. They fell three stories down landed on the ground level near the Barnes and Nobles bookstore.

“Sometimes I get pretty mad and think back on how life would be if this never happened,” Nagato told Hawaii News Now.

He lost vision in his right eye and hearing in his left ear. He also needs constant assistance with daily tasks.

Ala Moana Center had no immediate comment, but management has replaced many of the center’s defective railings at a cost of about $4 million. Other details of the settlement were not made public. The settlement will however cover costs for Nagato’s constant care.

“The case has been resolved to everyone’s satisfaction and the main thing is the sums we needed to make sure for his life, which hopefully will be normal life expectancy, have to be taken care of,” said attorney Rick Fried.

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