KEALAKEKUA — Family members were left questioning the county prosecutor's office and police after a former Captain Cook resident pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge yesterday — nearly three years after he hit and killed 88-year-old Mildred Mitamura with his vehicle as she was gardening in her front yard.

“He got away with it. He faced the court and the judge can only do what he can,” said Mildred Mitamura's son, Chester Mitamura. “The prosecutor's office and the police department failed to do their part. Something more should have been done.”
Roger William Pyatt, 65, who now lives in Apache Junction, Ariz., pleaded no contest to charges of third-degree negligent homicide stemming from the July 26, 2006, incident.
Judge Joseph P. Florendo Jr. accepted Pyatt's no-contest plea and found Pyatt guilty of the misdemeanor charge.
Simple negligence carries a maximum penalty of one year in jail and/or a $2,000 fine.
With a shaky voice, Pyatt apologized to Mildred Mitamura’s family.
“At night when I try to sleep, I try to think of something pleasant, but it seems like every night I relive the accident,” Pyatt told the court. “Ms. Mitamura wasn't visible because she was down on her hands and knees. Had I seen her, I could have hit the other car or ran off the mountain. ... It's the worst thing my life has ever produced.”
Pyatt, 62 at the time, was driving south on Mamalahoa Highway in a 1987 Suzuki Samurai at 2:43 p.m. when, he said, he moved to the right side of the roadway while trying to avoid colliding with an oncoming vehicle that had crossed the centerline.
Pyatt maintains his right tires went off the edge of the road and that he accelerated to regain control prior to striking Mitamura, whom he did not see.
Mitamura was dragged beneath the vehicle for about 25 feet before the Suzuki stopped amid brush just past Mitamura's home, according to police.
The third-degree negligent homicide charge stems from Pyatt speeding at the time of the accident and making no effort to avoid striking Mitamura, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Fred Giannini said yesterday.
Giannini previously said he did not believe he could successfully charge Pyatt with a felony because of Pyatt's claim that he was trying to avoid colliding with another vehicle.
Pyatt is to be sentenced at noon July 12.