Lawsuit says Honolulu police arrest sober drivers in focus on arrests for impaired driving
HONOLULU AP The Honolulu Police Department mentioned it will review all impaired driving arrests after the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii filed a lawsuit Thursday alleging officers are arresting sober drivers in an overzealous focus on making drunk-driving arrests In fresh years Honolulu officers have arrested scores of drivers who show no outward signs of impairment perform well on field sobriety tests and whose breath tests often show no alcohol the lawsuit announced The department is driven by a singular focus on getting arrests for driving under the influence even if they don t aftermath in convictions in an attempt to show that officers are protecting the constituents to use the arrest numbers to secure federal funding and to meet quotas the ACLU explained In response the department announced in a report that it takes these charges very seriously and functionaries have initiated a comprehensive review of all impaired driving arrests dating back to The ACLU explained they became aware of the issue thanks to an probe by Hawaii News Now reporter Lynn Kawano Police are motivated with incentives such as supervisors telling night enforcement officers they can go home and still get paid for an entire shift if they make a DUI arrest which results in officers taking investigative shortcuts or making arrests without probable cause the ACLU declared The class-action lawsuit is on behalf of three plaintiffs who were arrested and represents hundreds of other drivers The lawsuit is asking a judge to declare that the Honolulu police s practices are unconstitutional and unlawful It doesn t seek monetary damages In addition to the ongoing review the cases of the three plaintiffs will be internally investigated police announced We are dedicated to upholding citizens trust and will take appropriate action should any misconduct be revealed From through Honolulu police arrested people who had a blood-alcohol content level of after a breath or blood test for driving under the influence according to the lawsuit Only people were given a traffic ticket and only three people were charged with driving under the influence of drugs the lawsuit explained Honolulu police s pattern has been to stop drivers either without any problematic driving at a sobriety checkpoint or for minor traffic infractions the lawsuit declared Tanner Pangan was a high school senior when an officer pulled him over last year after his truck swerved on a rain-slicked road When I got pulled over and accused of drinking and driving I was kind of stunned because I don t drink I don t do drugs nothing he stated reporters during a virtual news conference It was his first time being arrested or pulled over Each of our clients blew a None of them were intoxicated Yet they endured lasting damage to their records their reputation traumatic arrests and unlawful detention mentioned Jeremy O Steen an attorney with a firm that is working on the lawsuit with ACLU Hawaii What we are demanding nowadays is simple Stop arresting innocent people Stop manipulating the system ACLU Hawaii is concerned there are quotas that officers are trying to meet In looking at arrest statistics the ACLU determined a cluster of arrests at the end of the month On Aug there were arrests where a breath test revealed in the same location about minutes of each other the ACLU disclosed Source
