Police allegedly ignore rules in colleague’s DUI

State law requires that law enforcement officers conduct breath, blood or urine testing on drivers involved in crashes resulting in injury or death, yet a Honolulu police officer arrested last week for alleged drunken driving was given a pass by fellow officers after he refused to submit to testing.

According to police reports, arresting officers did not test HPD’s Brent Sylvester, 41, for alcohol use when they arrested him April 3 at his home in Kailua on suspicion of operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant and for leaving the scene of an accident that resulted in injury.

The officer who arrested Sylvester said the 13-year HPD veteran, who worked in the Traffic Division, refused to submit himself to a field sobriety or breath test before he was arrested. Afterward he was taken to HPD’s Kailua substation.

Another officer transported Sylvester to HPD’s Pearl City station for a mandatory blood draw but took him back to Kailua after Sylvester again refused to be tested.

“The law allows police to physically restrain someone and even strap the person down to take blood,” said Victor Bakke, a defense lawyer and former prosecutor. Bakke is not involved in Sylvester’s case.

HPD declined comment because it is still conducting administrative and criminal investigations in the case.

The driver of the other vehicle in the collision and his two passengers told police they were traveling in the eastbound lanes of the H-1 freeway near the Aiea offramp around 2 a.m. when Sylvester’s car rear-ended theirs. They said Sylvester did not stop, but instead maneuvered around them and continued driving.

They said they followed Sylvester until he stopped in front of his house in Kailua. When they confronted him, they said Sylvester denied hitting them, then went into his house. The driver and passengers said Sylvester smelled of alcohol, his speech was slurred and he could not stand up straight or walk steadily.

One of the passengers also told police Sylvester was driving recklessly as they were following him.

The arresting officer said when he arrived Sylvester’s breath smelled of alcohol and that Sylvester told him he had a “few” when he got home.

The driver of the other car and his front-seat passenger complained of neck pain but refused ambulance transport to a hospital. The passenger told police his head whipped forward and hit the car’s dashboard.

Police said the car sustained major damage to the rear bumper and trunk. One of the passengers said the lid of the trunk popped open on impact.

The first officer arrived at Sylvester’s home at 2:28 a.m. Sylvester was arrested at 3:30 a.m. and taken to the Kailua substation, then to Pearl City for the mandatory blood draw.

The officer who transported Sylvester said they arrived in Pearl City at 5:51 a.m. and were back in Kailua at 6:15 a.m. Honolulu police have phlebotomists on call for arrestees who agree to submit a blood sample. For arrestees who refuse, police take them to a hospital.

Reports on the arrest do not indicate why police took Sylvester to the Pearl City station to attempt a blood draw or why he wasn’t taken to a hospital when he refused.

“It appears Sylvester got favorable treatment,” Bakke said.

Bakke said the state can still successfully prosecute Sylvester for DUI without a blood-alcohol test result, but it will be more difficult.

The objective threshold for DUI under state law is 0.08 or more grams of alcohol per 210 liters of breath or 100 cubic centimeters of blood. Without a BAC level, prosecutors are left with just the subjective threshold, which is the driver has to be under the influence of alcohol in an amount sufficient to impair the person’s normal mental faculties or ability to care for himself and guard against death or injury.

Officers did not see Sylvester behind the wheel of a vehicle before arresting him, according to police reports.

Sylvester’s possible criminal penalties include up to a year in jail and a $2,000 fine for leaving the scene of an accident and a one-year driver’s license revocation, two to five days in jail and maximum $1,000 fine for DUI. Sylvester also faces having his license administratively revoked for refusing to be tested.