2 police officers charged in separate felony cases
Two Honolulu police officers have been charged in the past week with felonies — one for allegedly assaulting a truck driver during a road rage incident and another, now retired, for allegedly shooting a bartender in a mishap.
On Tuesday, prosecutors filed a criminal complaint against officer Keoki Duarte, charging him with unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle, attempted unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle and third-degree assault.
Duarte allegedly assaulted truck driver Jonard Escalante, 26, of Kalihi, at about noon on Dec. 7.
Escalante said he accidentally hit Duarte’s car while changing lanes on Farrington Highway near the Kahe Power Plant and pulled over. Duarte, who was off duty at the time, got out and began shouting and swearing at Escalante, then punched Escalante’s passenger door.
Escalante said he was apologizing, but Duarte came to the driver’s door, opened it, grabbed him and threw him to the ground.
Duarte pushed Escalante, who was pleading for him to stop, to the ground multiple times and punched and kicked him, then began choking him until he began to black out, Escalante said.
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“I tap him to let me go because I cannot breathe,” he said by phone Wednesday.
Escalante said Duarte let him go after another driver who had stopped intervened. He said he doesn’t know what would have happened if the other driver had not shown up.
Escalante didn’t know his attacker was a police officer until after other officers responded.
“He’s not supposed to do that because he knows the law,” he said of Duarte. “He cannot do that.”
Police said Duarte is on restricted duty.
Retired Sgt. Anson Kimura was charged Friday with second-degree assault in connection with an early morning shooting at King’s Sports Bar on South King Street last year.
Authorities said a 41-year-old female bartender was shot in the stomach when a handgun accidentally discharged in the bar on April 3, 2015.
Kimura, 57, who was off duty when the shooting happened, was placed on restricted duty and retired in May 2015 with 25 years of service.
Kimura turned himself in Tuesday and posted $5,000 bail.
A Honolulu Police Department spokeswoman said the department is conducting an internal investigation into the actions of the officers who responded to the shooting.
42 responses to “2 police officers charged in separate felony cases”
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“Police said Duarte is on restricted duty.”
He should be FIRED. Another punk with a badge. Put him in prison and Bubba will smack that attitude out of him.
Sadly true.
Despite being a bad attitude punk, how superman would he have felt that day IF he didn’t have the badge and a gun to hide behind when he assaulted Escalante???
agree..this is felonious assault. He was out of control. Please start hiring mainland officers who have real training and ability.
So ‘allie’ you think that ‘mainland’ people are better than local people? You obviously know how to read, do you read about all the police involved shootings, in the ‘mainland’? There are bad cops everywhere, there are also many good cops everywhere and there are more good than bad, just that the bad ones always get the media attention. Stop the pilau waha, use your po’o.
Allie is guy pretending to be a women. With a strong dislike for everything Hawaiian, so no use talk to her in Hawaiian.
No. I think we should recruit the best officers from here AND around the country. With overtime, the actual salary of many of our officers with experience approaches or exceeds 100K. Great salary and community to work in.
“Allen” is a SA blogger, paid to post provocative statements to get people to react. Stop reacting.
I agree another punk with a badge. My wife was married to a cop until she found the courage to divorce her abuser. Told her he couldn’t be touched because he was a cop.
How in the world does it take over a year to charge someone for shooting an unarmed, un-resisting person who is not accused of any crime?
And why is it taking over a year for HPD to “conduct an internal investigation into the actions of the officers” who tried to cover this up? Witnesses move away, people forget details and the public forgets and… I think I just answered my own question.
Why? Because the Blue Wall surrounds the guilty cops. RE:Duarte, this isn’t an isolated incident.
Shame on the prosecutors for not moving forward on a previous police brutality incident. And Shame on Kealoha for keeping thug cops on the job. This is not what the people of Hawai’i should be subjected to.
http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/23355837/musicians-suit-alleges-police-brutality
Products of a useless police leader? Title not used for obvious reasons.
Careful now, don’t want to upset the police chief, he’s still busy trying to figure out what to do about his stolen mailbox from his home of distinction. 😉
Kealahoa is by the far the worst chief HPD has ever had. Bring in a real chief with a legitimate resume and ability. Likely bring him or her from the mainland.
Why don’t you move back to the mainland. You seem to feel that mainland people are superior.
From what I read in the news, the person shot was a typical hostess bar waitress and was friends with the officer. Evidently he was showing off his revolver when he “accidentally” pulled the trigger. How do you accidentally pull the trigger? Anyway it wasn’t an altercation or anything like that.
Idiot with a badge.
Bully with a badge. HPD needs to re-visit their hiring practices.
And firing practices.
Start by hiring only college graduates. Restrict races that predominate in the local and national prison makeups. Be selective.
Though college grads is asking a bit much, I’d say hire people over 25 that have had some life experience BESIDES just the military.
Actually, back in the late 1960s, Berkeley CA PD began requiring a BA for all applicants. It’s worked remarkably well.
Cello, the current requirement is 60 semester hours…better than nothing, I guess.
Restrict race? Okay to be fair don’t hire mainland white men because they are the number 1 violators of killing citizens.
Restricted duty? We’re still paying him. Kealoha oe.
Hope the shooting victim has fully recovered.
And they wonder why they get no respect?
All these officers are doing are following the lead of their Chief of Police who leads the dept. in being investigated by the FBI…..Hey, follow the leader!!! RIGHT!!
“Authorities said a 41-year-old female bartender was shot in the stomach when a handgun accidentally discharged in the bar on April 3, 2015.”>>> Really? 2015? Charged and on payroll over a year later?
Had to give him time to file da kine retirement papers.
Even worse than that, they allowed him to leave the scene without being tested for intoxication. Then the chief allowed him to retire before he was charged to avoid any possibility of pension loss. Frankly I’m surprised Kaneshiro is prosecuting him at all,usually you have to capture the cop’s crime on video before there’s any chance of charges.That’s why Shopo won’t allow body cams, too much could go wrong.
As much as I’d like to see this clown Duarte FIRED, unfortunately they have to abide by their Union Rules … a Union headed by a LGBT hater Tenari Maafala. So much hatred by the boys carrying a 9MM and wearing a Badge. We’re getting as bad as the cops in LA and MN.
Not sure why this cop hasn’t been fired seeing this is not the first time his name has been in the news.
http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/23355837/musicians-suit-alleges-police-brutality
agree..but Mayor Cladwell fails to act. HPD is out of control it appears and lacks any leadership from an affirmative action chief who lacks the intellect or the morals for the job he holds.
Mayor Cladwell needs SHOPO support so he ‘no talk stink’ when comes to any cops, no matter how bad, including the one at the top with a possessed mailbox.
yup
There are many, many officers on the force that diligently carry out their duties, and do so with a good attitude towards each other and towards the public in general. Every organization has bad eggs, unfortunately police forces around the country are suffering from a “we” versus “everyone else” mentality and municipalities are allowing this to fester. Fear of terrorism, fear of militarism, fear of EVERYTHING has fostered this culture. The amount of power police forces are wielding already make this country a “police state”, and no politician wants to touch this issue with a ten foot pole which makes one believe that this paradigm is acceptable, and even pursued by every level of government.
Well another large potential lawsuit awaits Hawaii Taxpayers, as attorneys must be salivating to take upon such a case. I wonder how much $$$ this is going to cost taxpayers especially this is not the first time this HPD officer has been involved in a brutality case. One can just hope this won’t cost us a bundle when an eventual settlement is arrived at that the city council members must approve.
You can bet the bar waitress will get a six figure settlement from taxpayers courtesy of Kealoha and Kimura. Elcalante will probably sue too since this cop has a history of excessive force complaints.
Kealoha continues to “exceed expectations”. He himself just costed taxpayers several million that the city council recently approved to pay out to female officers that filed suit for harassment.HPD is really going down the tubes with Kealoha leading it. Or should I say Shopo leading it.
This dummie Duarte, repeat offender needs to be fired immediatelly so he can go work some rent-a-cop security job with the rest of his moke thug buddies.
I was thinking more along the line of a lengthy prison stretch which serves as a reminder that just because you are law enforcer doesn’t mean you are above the law…..
I can’t imagine why at the time of Sgt. Kimura’s incident that HPD policy didn’t forbid drinking alcoholic beverages while carrying firearms off duty. Almost every police agency prohibits this along with common sense that booze and guns is a tragedy waiting to happen. The best example of this is the Christopher Deedy case in which the federal agent shot and killed an unarmed Kollin Elderts in a Waikiki McDonalds restaurant after a reported night of drinking…
Just want to share a story w/ everyone … as “minor” as this may seem it is an example of how HPD Officers feel they are ABOVE THE LAW … a couple of days ago I’m on Ala Kawa St waiting to get into the Costco Gas Station. I’m just about at the end of the old Sprint Bldg that the City took over and renamed it Kapalama Hale. Now we all know that jaywalking is now an offense in which you can get cited for…SO…WHAT DO I SEE…Jaywalking from Costco across Ala Kawa headed towards Kapalama Hale is an HPD Officer with a Costco Hot Dog and Soda in his hands. I was very tempted to roll down my window and inform him that jaywalking is against the law. Decided not to do that as he might have given me a ticket for waiting in line to get into the Costco Gas Station … OR WORSE …