Lawsuit says Honolulu police arrest sober drivers in focus on arrests for impaired driving

HONOLULU (AP) — The Honolulu Police Department said 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 recent 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 said.

The department is driven by a “singular focus” on getting arrests for driving under the influence, even if they don’t result in convictions, in an attempt to show that officers are protecting the public, to use the arrest numbers to secure federal funding and to meet quotas, the ACLU said.

In response, the department said in a statement that it “takes these allegations very seriously,” and officials have “initiated a comprehensive review of all impaired driving arrests dating back to 2021.”

The ACLU said they became aware of the issue thanks to an investigation 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 said.

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 said: “We are dedicated to upholding public trust and will take appropriate action should any misconduct be found.”

From 2002 through 2024, Honolulu police arrested 127 people who had a blood-alcohol content level of 0.000 after a breath or blood test for driving under the influence, according to the lawsuit. Only 15 people were given a traffic ticket, and only three people were charged with driving under the influence of drugs, the lawsuit said.

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 said.

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 told reporters during a virtual news conference.

It was his first time being arrested or pulled over.

“Each of our clients blew a 0.000. None of them were intoxicated. Yet they endured lasting damage to their records, their reputation, traumatic arrests, and unlawful detention,” said Jeremy O’Steen, an attorney with a firm that is working on the lawsuit with ACLU Hawaii. “What we are demanding today 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 found a cluster of arrests at the end of the month. On Aug. 31, 2024, there were arrests where a breath test showed 0.000 in the same location about 20 minutes of each other, the ACLU said.