It is alleged that the Honolulu Police Department arrested individuals who had not consumed any alcohol at all and provided rewards to the policemen who made these arrests. These allegations come from a class action lawsuit that was submitted to the court on Thursday.
Honolulu Police are allegedly charging drivers for DUI even though they are perfectly sober, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaiʻi.
“Let me be clear, public safety matters, but falsely arresting people using unreliable observations or assumptions undermines that very safety,” said Salmah Rizvi, ACLU Hawaii executive director.
Chief Joe Logan, the city and county of Honolulu, and seven individual officers were sued in a class action lawsuit by ACLU Hawaiʻi for allegedly making fraudulent arrests. According to ACLU lawyers, HPD arrested 129 individuals with blood alcohol levels below 0.00 between 2022 and 2024.
According to the ACLU, three of them were charged with operating a car while under the influence of drugs, and 15 of them received fines.
“So now, when I drive, I’m always nervous,” said Tanner Pangan, plaintiff. “Always nervous, and I don’t know which cops are out to get me, or, like, which cops are just… trying to get numbers in the system.”
“Because I felt like before I got arrested, I had an image that police officers are there to safeguard us, protect us, you know, especially those who are innocent,” said Ammon Fepuleai, plaintiff. “Yet that has completely changed my perception.”
The ACLU asserts that police were given incentives and that the department receives federal funding for DUI enforcement as the causes of the erroneous arrests.
“What we’ve been told is that supervisors for the night enforcement unit have told officers, if you make a DUI arrest, you can go home, and you’ll still get paid for your entire shift,” said Emily Hills, ACLU Hawaii senior attorney.
Lawyers also claim that increased DUI arrests led to greater overtime opportunities for officers. And those who didn’t faced the possibility of losing their patrol cars.
According to a statement from Honolulu Police, they have started a “comprehensive review” of all charges for impaired driving dating back to 2021 because they take these claims seriously.
Although the complaint does not seek monetary damages, the ACLU wants the court to declare HPD’s actions illegal and unconstitutional and to compel them to change.
