Deputy Commissioner appears on subpoena

taase

Deputy Commissioner Falanaipupu Taase Sagapolutele appeared on a subpoena before District Court Judge Fiti Sunia today to clarify procedures for the issuance of traffic tickets.

This was in connection with the cases of two men, Tualena Time and Thomas Noel, who were pulled over on traffic matters but ended up spending a night at the Territorial Correctional Facility because they weren’t able to produce their identification.

A rookie female cop – who issued the ticket for Time was questioned on the stand previously by Judge Sunia as to why he was put in jail, just because he didn’t carry identification.

The judge indicated that this was a violation of this individual’s rights.

Not getting satisfactory answers from the cop, the court issued a subpoena for the deputy commissioner.

However the cases were not heard today.

Judge Sunia ordered the cases of the two men to be continued to June 14th and called the deputy commissioner to see him in his chambers.