Local Bicyclist Killed by Police Vehicle in Hawaii

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A West Bloomfield man’s sunrise bike ride in Hawaii came to a tragic end Sunday.

In a statement, the Hawaii Police Department said Jeffrey C. Surnow, 63, of West Bloomfield was struck and killed by a police car driven by an on-duty police officer as he rode his bicycle in South Kohala in a northwest section of the island.

He was pronounced dead at a North Kohala hospital at 10:25 a.m. Sunday.

“It’s kinda dangerous for a bicyclist to be riding in that area, being the sun rising and such, hard to see them,” Battalion Chief Capt. John Whitman told Hawaii News Now. “And there’s no shoulder for those bicyclists to be riding on. They basically have to ride on the road, which is a pretty dangerous area.”

The accident occurred about 6:25 a.m. Both Surnow and Buddemeyer’s police vehicle were traveling in the same direction, police in Hawaii said. The officer, 30-year-old Jody Buddemeyer, was arrested on suspicion of negligent homicide and was later released pending further investigation, according to the statement.

Surnow was well known around Oakland County. He was the founder of the Birmingham-based real estate and development company Surnow Co., and founder the Birmingham Bike Ride.

“It’s hard to talk about it right now,” Cullen Watkins, vice president of racing for the Wolverine Sports Club, one of the premier cycling clubs in Michigan, told The Birmingham Eccentric.

“He was a doer in life,” Watkins said. “He was not a guy who would just talk about stuff – he’d make it happen. Whether it was putting together the bike festival in Birmingham or doing something crazy, that’s the way it was for Jeff. He didn’t hold back.”

As a developer, Surnow has played a pivotal role in the redevelopment of two landmark buildings in Birmingham, including the 1940 former post office on Martin Street.

His most recent project was to renovate the Wachler Building, which he acquired in July and renamed the Woodward Building, on the corner of Maple and Old Woodward.

“It’s going to be spectacular,” Surnow said in an interview with the Birmingham Eccentric in December. “We’re using the best materials and we’ve already done some preliminary design work. I can tell you it’s going to be an out-of-the-park home run when everything is completed.”

John Heiney, executive director of the Birmingham Principal Shopping District, told The Oakland press that Surnow twas “a big proponent of Birmingham’s buisness climate, and the community itself.”

Birmingham City Manager Joe Valentine agreed the city lost one of its most enthusiastic boosters.

“It was very shocking and saddening to learn of the passing of Jeff Surnow,” Valentine said Monday. “He was a strong supporter of the Birmingham community, through his downtown developments to his annual cycling event to his seat on the city’s Multi-Modal Transportation Board, Jeff’s contributions to this city are many and he will be truly be missed.”

Funeral service arrangements are pending.

Hawaii police said the Office of Professional Standards will conduct an administrative investigation, which is standard procedure in any officer-involved fatality. The officer was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.