Hawaii cops sued over DUI arrests of sober drivers

The ACLU says Honolulu police routinely arrest sober drivers to falsely boost their numbers to secure federal funding.

by Jeremy Yurow, Courthouse News,  May 29, 2025

HONOLULU (CN) — Ammon Fepuleai was visiting Hawaii from American Samoa when Honolulu police officers arrested him for driving under the influence.

But Fepuleai, an educator, says he doesn't drink and showed no signs of impaired driving.

"When I was arrested, it really impacted me mentally and internally, as well as affecting public perception because this really caused trauma to me," Fepuleai said in an ACLU statement. "The whole experience was very traumatizing. Before I got arrested, I had an image that police officers are there to safeguard us, to protect us, especially those that are innocent."

The American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii says in a class action filed Thursday that Fepuleai's arrest, and many others on the island, are part of the Honolulu Police Department's pattern of arresting drivers for DUI to fulfill arrest number goals.

Representing Fepuleai, and other named plaintiffs Sarah Poppinga and Tanner Pangan, the ACLU challenges what it describes as HPD's "longstanding pattern and practice of wrongfully arresting people without probable cause or due process" for operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant.

The plaintiffs levy claims of false arrest, due process and negligent training, among others, against the City and County of Honolulu and several Honolulu police officers. They also ask for an injunction on DUI arrests without probable cause and due process, along with expungement of the plaintiff's arrest records.

In the suit filed in Hawaii's First Circuit Court, the plaintiffs say HPD arrested 129 people for DUI between 2022 and 2024 despite those individuals having a blood alcohol content of 0.000 after breath or blood tests. Of those arrests, only 15 people received traffic tickets and just three were charged with drug-related DUI offenses.

The plaintiffs claim that HPD's practices stem from a "singular focus" on making DUI arrests rather than securing convictions.

"HPD uses its arrest numbers and statistics to justify continued receipt of federal funding for sobriety checkpoints and other OVUII enforcement, receipt of which is conditioned on showing the checkpoints’ efficacy through arrest statistics," the ACLU claims in the suit.

The organization notes an HPD “one-and-done” policy, where officers are incentivized with being able to go home early if they make one arrest on their shift.

In a statement, ACLU of Hawaii Executive Director Salmah Y. Rizvi framed the case in constitutional terms.

"We are meant to live in a society where freedom isn't just a principle on paper — but a lived reality," Rizvi said. "The freedom of movement is a foundational principle of our democracy that must be safeguarded."

The private attorneys working with the ACLU also criticized the purported practice as counterproductive to genuine public safety goals.

"We all want safe streets. But when that goal is twisted into a numbers game, it takes officers off the road and lets truly impaired drivers slip through the cracks, placing the entire community at risk," said Robert Miyashita, of law firm Miyashita & O'Steen.

According to the ACLU, the officers that arrested the plaintiffs claimed they appeared intoxicated. However, the organization's monthslong investigation revealed officers were arresting drivers who acted normally and drove without erratic behavior, as shown via bodycam footage.

The ACLU seeks in the lawsuit to represent hundreds of Oahu drivers who were arrested without probable cause.

Pangan, one of the named plaintiffs, was 18 and in high school when arrested and said the experience was particularly jarring for a young person.

"No one should be arrested for just driving home," Pangan said in a statement. "I hope HPD actually arrests people that are under the influence and are actually causing harm and being a danger to our roads. It shouldn't be happening to anyone just driving home."

The City and County of Honolulu and the Honolulu Police Department did not immediately responded to requests for comment on the lawsuit.

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CB: Lawsuit: Honolulu Police Made 127 DUI Arrests, But The Drivers Were Sober - Honolulu Civil Beat

AP: Lawsuit says Honolulu police arrest sober drivers | AP News

HNN:  HPD sued in class action case on behalf of sober drivers jailed for DUI

KITV: ACLU sues City over HPD’s wrongful intoxicated driving arrests | News | kitv.com

SA: Honolulu police made DUI arrests without proof, lawsuit alleges | Honolulu Star-Advertiser