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HONOLULU -- The Honolulu Police Department said it volition reappraisal each impaired driving arrests aft the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii filed a suit Thursday alleging officers are arresting sober drivers successful an overzealous absorption connected making drunk-driving arrests.
In caller years Honolulu officers person arrested “scores” of drivers who amusement nary outward signs of impairment, execute good connected tract sobriety tests and whose enactment tests often amusement nary alcohol, the suit said.
The section is driven by a “singular focus” connected getting arrests for driving nether the influence, adjacent if they don't effect successful convictions, the ACLU said.
Supervisors springiness officers incentives, including telling nighttime enforcement officers they tin spell location and inactive get paid for an full displacement if they marque a DUI arrest, which results successful officers taking investigative shortcuts oregon making arrests without probable cause, the ACLU said.
Police are attempting to amusement that officers are protecting the public, utilizing apprehension numbers to unafraid national backing and to conscionable quotas, the enactment said.
“Each of our clients blew a 0.000. None of them were intoxicated. Yet they endured lasting harm to their records, their reputation, traumatic arrests, and unlawful detention,” said Jeremy O’Steen, an lawyer with a steadfast that is moving connected the suit with ACLU Hawaii. “What we are demanding contiguous is simple: Stop arresting guiltless people. Stop manipulating the system.”
In response, the section said successful a connection that it “takes these allegations precise seriously,” and officials person “initiated a broad reappraisal of each impaired driving arrests dating backmost to 2021.”
The ACLU said they became alert of the contented acknowledgment to an investigation by Hawaii News Now newsman Lynn Kawano.
The class-action suit is connected behalf of 3 plaintiffs who were arrested and represents hundreds of different drivers. The suit is asking a justice to state that the Honolulu Police Department's practices are unconstitutional and unlawful. It doesn't question monetary damages.
In summation to the ongoing review, the cases of the 3 plaintiffs volition beryllium internally investigated, constabulary said: “We are dedicated to upholding nationalist spot and volition instrumentality due enactment should immoderate misconduct beryllium found.”
From 2022 done 2024, Honolulu constabulary arrested 127 radical who had a blood-alcohol contented level of 0.000 aft a enactment oregon humor trial for driving nether the influence, according to the lawsuit. Only 15 radical were fixed a postulation ticket, and lone 3 radical were charged with driving nether the power of drugs, the suit said.
Honolulu police's “pattern” has been to halt drivers either without immoderate problematic driving astatine a sobriety checkpoint oregon for insignificant postulation infractions, the suit said.
Tanner Pangan was a precocious schoolhouse elder erstwhile an serviceman pulled him implicit past twelvemonth aft his motortruck fishtailed connected a rain-slicked road. “When I got pulled implicit and accused of drinking and driving ... I was benignant of stunned due to the fact that I don't drink, I don't bash drugs, nothing,” helium told reporters during a virtual quality conference.
It was his archetypal clip being arrested oregon pulled over.
ACLU Hawaii is acrophobic determination are quotas that officers are trying to meet. In looking astatine apprehension statistics, the ACLU recovered a clump of arrests astatine the extremity of the month. On Aug. 31, 2024, determination were 3 arrests wherever a enactment trial showed 0.000 astatine the aforesaid determination astir 20 minutes of each other, the ACLU said.
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This communicative has been corrected to amusement that the clip play for the constabulary arrests was from 2022 done 2024, not 2002 done 2024.
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