A Honolulu Police Department officer captured on video assaulting people at a game room near McKinley High School has been suspended without pay, according to the Honolulu Police Department.
HPD spokeswoman Teresa Bell didn’t know how long the officer, Vince Morre, has been suspended, but a source said his suspension is for 30 days.
Morre is assigned to the Kalihi district and has nine years of service, Bell said. She said at least one more officer is also under internal investigation because of the incident.
In a video of the assault on Hopaka Street, Morre, who is wearing plain clothes, kicks a man in the face, then throws a metal stool at the man’s head, according to Myles Breiner, who is representing the 25-year-old man who was kicked. Morre shoves a woman before leaving the room. Two other officers in plain clothes exit the room with Morre.
Breiner said one of the other officers was Morre’s partner, and he has also been suspended without pay for not doing anything.
Bell said she could not comment on the incident because the FBI is investigating. An FBI spokesman could not confirm or deny an investigation.
HPD Chief Louis Kealoha said in a brief statement that the department does not condone such conduct.
Breiner said Morre is part of the Crime Reduction Unit, or CRU. He said Morre was looking for someone who wasn’t there and, when he didn’t get the response he wanted, took it out on the people around him.
Breiner said the assault is an example of the CRU spiraling "out of control" from a lack of supervision.
"The public should trust police," he said. "You want to be assured that they’re going to show up and assist you, not assault you."
Breiner said his client received three staples to his head and may have a fractured hand from the incident. The man is waiting to be released from custody for a probation violation before filing a complaint.
According to Breiner, the department issued new guidelines to CRU officers after the incident and other incidents of alleged police brutality. Breiner is representing two men in separate cases who claim they were assaulted by police in cases of mistaken identities.
He said CRU officers from all eight districts were required to attend a meeting recently at the main station with Deputy Chief Marie McCauley and Assistant Chief Robert Green.
The CRU officers, he said, were given a list dated Sept. 25 of responsibilities or policies, with such requirements as CRU officers staying in their district unless they receive approval to do otherwise.
Morre was in the downtown district when he was captured on video assaulting Breiner’s client. Breiner said he did not know when the video was recorded.
The memo also required the officers to reread and acknowledge several HPD policies, including the use of force, warrantless searches and seizures, standards of conduct, and arrests and arrested persons.
A police spokeswoman said CRU officers were not given new policies, but recently reviewed existing guidelines and responsibilities.
Breiner said it’s unusual for the department to take existing guidelines and put them in a separate list of "must-do" responsibilities. He said the new set of guidelines changes the officers’ terms of engagement with the public and makes them more accountable.
"They’re telling the officers, ‘Your union can’t protect you on this because we’re giving you a heads-up,’" he said. "All those policies have one thing in common: police contact with the public."
