A new class-action lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Hawaii accuses the Honolulu Police Department of arresting sober drivers—sometimes including tourists—for DUI without probable cause. According to the filing, HPD officers arrested 127 drivers between 2022 and 2024 who later tested with zero blood alcohol content. The suit says they had no drugs in their system, passed all field sobriety tests, and showed no signs of impairment.
The lawsuit alleges these arrests are driven by an internal culture focused on Honolulu Police racking up DUI arrest numbers, regardless of whether they lead to convictions. Some officers were allegedly encouraged by superiors in that regard, with early shift release if they made a DUI arrest. The suit alleges police pushed for arrest stats to help secure additional federal grant funding.
The ACLU says the department’s approach violates the rights of drivers and has caused lasting harm to those who were wrongly arrested.
Tourists caught in the crossfire: a real story.
The lawsuit includes Ammon Fepuleai, a math instructor from American Samoa, who was visiting Honolulu in August 2023 to help plan his cousin’s wedding. While driving on a Friday night, he was stopped at a checkpoint, administered a breathalyzer test, and arrested—despite blowing 0.000…