The American Civil Liberties Union Hawaii filed a class action lawsuit Thursday morning on behalf of three individuals who were sober but taken to jail on Oahu.
Hawaii News Now reports that the three drivers named are Ammon Fepuleai of American Samoa, Sarah Poppinga and Tanner Pangan of Hawaii.
The claim names the City and County of Honolulu, Honolulu’s police chief, and several officers as defendants, accusing them of making false arrests to boost statistics and secure federal grant money.
The ACLU of Hawaii emphasized that the lawsuit does not seek monetary damages for the drivers. Rather, it aims to push for reforms made within the department.
Fepuleai was arrested November 7, 2023. He was the first driver to pass through a checkpoint in Waipio. The ACLU claims officers have shown a pattern of making one arrest before shutting down operations and going home.
Poppinga was arrested on June 15, 2023, in the Ward area after leaving Dave & Buster’s with a friend.
Pangan, a high school senior at the time, was arrested on January 2, 2024, after being pulled over near Aloha Stadium while heading home.
All three drivers had breathalyzer test results of 0.00, either before or after they were taken to the police station.
At a Thursday morning press conference, ACLU Hawaii legal director Wookie Kim stated that the plaintiffs “represent a class of hundreds of drivers who have been arrested by HPD in recent years without due process or without probable cause.”
Kim said they also represent future drivers.
“We are trying to get a court order to declare that HPD’s practices are unconstitutional and unlawful,” Kim said.
According to the complaint, between 2022 and 2024, HPD arrested 127 people whose breath or blood tests showed no alcohol. Of those, only three were charged for being under the influence of drugs. Nearly all the others were not charged after the arrest.
Kim stressed that there was harm done to all of the drivers affected.
