Suits claiming misconduct by HPD settled for $60,000

The city settled two lawsuits involving the Hono­lulu Police Department last week, bringing to $2.6 million the total that taxpayers paid this year for alleged police misconduct and other cases.

The Honolulu City Council approved two settlements Wednesday for $37,500 and $22,500. So far this year there have been 12 settlements involving police.

More than $2 million of this year’s total comes from only two cases. Those cases were $1.4 million for the family of Aaron Torres, who was suffocated while police were trying to restrain him, and $950,000 for a woman struck by a subsidized police vehicle.

The larger settlement approved Wednesday was related to Robert Steiner, a 22-year police veteran and corporal in the Traffic Division.

According to court documents, Steiner broke the finger of Randy Salazar Jr. with a stun gun in January 2013.

Salazar had been using an iPhone to record an arrest at Halawa housing at the time.

Steiner was escorting a handcuffed man off the property and used his stun gun to hit Salazar’s hand without warning as he walked past, court documents said.

Steiner continued walking as Salazar asked for his name and badge number, the documents said.

Steiner testified that something had come out toward his head, and he put his hand up to shield himself.

Tracy Fukui, Salazar’s attorney, said prosecutors never charged Steiner with what she says could have been a felony —for assault with a dangerous weapon. She said the incident was also a First Amendment violation of the public’s right to videotape.

She said the damages cover Salazar’s $7,000 medical bill and pain and suffering. She said her client moved on with his life and didn’t seek punitive damages, which would have required a trial.

Fukui said her client, a veteran who served in Af­ghani­stan, was worried about retaliation in the district.

"He was just taken aback by the way he was treated," she said. "All he was doing was videotaping."

A police spokes­woman said the department does not comment on pending litigation but did say the department’s policy is to not interfere with media representatives recording scenes that are within view of the public.

The second settlement was for John Ilae, who accused Detective Rodney Tenn of illegally holding him for an extended period after an arrest.

According to the lawsuit, Ilae was held for almost 38 hours after his arrest for investigation of assault in June 2010.

Ilae’s attorney Eric Seitz said police have up to 48 hours to charge a person after an arrest but cannot use that time to build their case.

Police should release arrestees as soon as possible, holding them only to complete the administrative steps to file charges, he said.

In Ilae’s case, Ilae was informed of the bail for his charges at 7:45 a.m., but the detective didn’t charge him until 6 p.m. Ilae eventually bailed out at 9:15 p.m.

Seitz said police deliberately hold people without charges as a tactic to produce confessions or statements, in violation of the state and federal constitutions.

Seitz claims police have not stopped the practice and could eventually face larger fines in future lawsuits.

City Councilman Ron Menor, chairman of the Executive Matters and Legal Affairs Committee, said Steiner was suspended for an unknown amount of time for his conduct. He said he also requested the city Department of Corporation Counsel look into whether police are following procedures to avoid violating the rights of people who have been arrested.

Menor noted that the number of lawsuits is small compared with the thousands of arrests police make every year.