A previous police officer in Hawaii was sentenced to 4 years in jail Wednesday for forcing a homeless person to lick a urinal to prevent getting arrested.
“I’m below to judge you on the worst point you’ve done in your lifestyle,” US District Choose Leslie Kobayashi explained to the former Honolulu cop, John Rabago, at his sentencing.
“You took from [that man] his only possession: his dignity as a human getting,” Kobayashi advised Rabago.
Rabago, 44, and one more officer, Reginald Ramones, had responded to a nuisance complaint at a purchasing mall in 2018 when they found the man in a stall in a general public restroom.
The 37-calendar year-aged instructed the cops he would do “anything” to prevent acquiring arrested, in accordance to court papers.
“If you lick the urinal you won’t get arrested,” Rabago told the gentleman.
Rabago threatened to beat him and shove his experience in a bathroom if he did not lick the urinal, Kobayashi said.
Both officers had been charged with depriving the person of his civil legal rights.
Ramones, who also left the department, is scheduled to be sentenced up coming week.
At Wednesday’s sentencing, Rabago apologized to the victim and his spouse and children.
“Two years back I manufactured a determination I’m not proud of,” he said. “My steps improved the class of life for all of us.”
The gentleman, who filed a lawsuit against the Honolulu Law enforcement Section and the metropolis, was “pleasantly surprised” by the four-12 months sentence, his lawyer, Myles Breiner, reported.
“He was under the impression that they would coddle him and give him a bare minimum time period, a incredibly small sentence,” stated Breiner.
With Publish wires
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