HPD officer pleads not guilty to off-duty road rage incident

A Honolulu Police Department officer said he is not guilty of assaulting a truck driver last year on Farrington Highway following a traffic accident near the Kahe Power Plant in Waianae.

Officer Keoki Duarte is charged with two counts of unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle and third-degree assault.

The eight-year HPD veteran, who is free after posting bail of $5,000, entered a plea of not guilty in Circuit Court on Thursday, and Judge Colette Garibaldi set trial to begin the week of Sept. 12 before Circuit Judge Shirley Kawamura.

Police said Duarte allegedly assaulted truck driver Jonard Escalante, 26, of Kalihi on Dec. 7.

Escalante said he accidentally hit Duarte’s car while changing lanes and pulled over. Duarte, who was off duty at the time, allegedly got out of his vehicle, shouted at the truck driver and then punched Escalante’s passenger door.

Escalante said he tried to apologize, but Duarte opened the driver’s door, grabbed him and threw him to the ground. He said Duarte pushed him several times, punched and kicked him, then choked him until he began to black out.

Escalante didn’t know his attacker was a police officer until after other officers responded to the scene.

Police said since the incident Duarte has been on restricted duty in the Traffic Division.

Escalante’s attorney, Eric Seitz, who monitored Duarte’s arraignment, said Duarte and other officers were accused of using unnecessary and excessive force during a 2012 arrest. In that case the Honolulu Police Commission found that eight police officers, including Duarte, were guilty of conduct unbecoming to officers, but none was disciplined or retrained, according to a federal lawsuit.

The lawsuit, which was settled out of court in July 2015, alleged that police officers assaulted and arrested two hikers they had mistaken for suspects in an armed robbery.

Waikiki entertainer John W. Helm III, who goes by the name Johnny Helm, said he and Jonah Wellins were hiking on Lanipo Trail on Wilhelmina Rise on Feb. 29, 2012. While on the summit, according to the lawsuit, they saw a police helicopter whose pilot gestured that they go down the trail.

The two hikers said they complied and were “accosted by approximately eight heavily armed men dressed in combat gear,” were assaulted by the HPD officers and handcuffed. They were placed in separate patrol cars but were released in Palolo without any explanation because they did not meet the description of the armed robbers, the lawsuit said.