HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The American Civil Liberties Union Hawaii filed a class action lawsuit Thursday morning on behalf of three people who were sober, but taken to jail on Oahu.
The claim names the City and County of Honolulu, Honolulu’s police chief and a handful of officers as defendants accusing them of making false arrests to get stats and federal grant money.
The lawsuit does not seek monetary damages for the drivers. Rather the ACLU Hawaii said they want to see changes made by the department.
The three drivers named are Ammon Fepuleai, Sarah Poppinga and Tanner Pangan.
All three were part of an HNN Investigates series exposing the arrests which the ACLU called a violation of rights.
Fepuleai was arrested Nov. 7, 2023. He was the first to drive through a checkpoint in Waipio. The ACLU said officers have shown a pattern of getting one arrest then shutting down operations and going home.
Sara Poppinga was arrested on June 15, 2023, in the Ward area after leaving Dave and Busters with a friend.
Tanner Pangan was arrested on Jan. 2, 2024. He was a high school senior at the time he was pulled over near Aloha Stadium while heading home.
All three drivers had breath test results of 0.00 either before or after they were taken to the police station.
At a press conference Thursday morning, ACLU Hawaii legal director Wookie Kim said the named 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 with no alcohol detected in their breath or blood test.
Of those, three were charged for being under the influence of drugs, nearly all the others were not charged after the arrest.
Kim said there was harm done to all of the drivers affected.
“HPD has a singular focus on getting DUI arrests but not necessarily DUI convictions,” he said.
Emily Hills, ACLU Hawaii senior staff attorney, said stats are very important to the department and are “used to secure over a million dollars in federal funding to cover DUI enforcement.”
Hills said they’ve learned about “incentives given to police officers to encourage them to make more DUI arrests.”
Fepuleai said he was not interested in making money when he signed with the ACLU Hawaii. “They stand for what’s right and serve the mission of trying to reform the policy,” Fepuleai said.
Pangan said as an 18-year old, his arrest was traumatizing and he is concerned about being arrested again when he is on the road, even though he does not drink and does not do drugs.
“I hope they arrest people that are actually under the influence and causing harm and being a danger on our roads,” Pangan said.
In a statement, a spokesperson said HPD takes these allegations very seriously.
In response to the concerns raised by the lawsuit, “HPD initiated a comprehensive review of all impaired driving arrests dating back to 2021.”
The statement went on to say the purpose of the review is “to identify any existing negative patterns” and to uncover opportunities for improving training and operational procedures.
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