On New Year’s Day 2024, the Honolulu Police Department engaged in a nine-hour islandwide manhunt. The suspect they were chasing, Sidney Tafokitau, was armed with a rifle and fled over 100 miles as more than 60 police officers spread across dozens of vehicles pursued him, according to a lawsuit.
When officers finally thought they’d found their guy, they crashed a police van into him and beat him up, the lawsuit said, punching and stomping on him and causing serious injuries. But it was a case of mistaken identity. Tevitatonga Cadiente and his father, Vaokehekehe Mataele, had nothing to do with Tafokitau’s alleged crimes. Both men were handcuffed on the ground.
“Mr. Cadiente was significantly injured in his head and face,” Cadiente’s lawyer Ralph O’Neill said in an interview. “I mean, he had facial fractures. He had lacerations and abrasions.”…