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…