(AP) — A Honolulu police sergeant who was caught on video in 2014 punching his girlfriend in a Waipahu restaurant has been charged with domestic violence.
Correction: An earlier version of this report said the new arrest was in connection with the 2014 incident.
The Honolulu Police Department said Wednesday that Sgt. Darren Cachola was charged with misdemeanor abuse of a household member and two counts of harassment. He was being held on $1,500 bail, and the department said his police powers will be removed.
In 2014, surveillance video showed Cachola pummeling a woman. Cachola and the woman said they were horsing around.
Former HPD chief Louis Kealoha, who has since been indicted on federal criminal charges, asked Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Keith Kaneshiro to review the case.
Kaneshiro, who is now himself a target of a federal investigation and is on paid leave, decided not to pursue charges after presenting evidence before a grand jury.
Still, the video sparked widespread outrage, particularly among women legislators, and called into question how the nation’s 20th largest police department confronts domestic violence. Cachola was eventually fired, but after a police union challenge an arbitrator ruled he should get his job back.
The public has never been told why Cachola was fired or why he was reinstated with four years of back pay.
Whether the arbitration report should be released to the public has been the subject of a long and unresolved legal battle.
Meanwhile, a House Bill 285 in the Legislature would require police agencies to disclose information about employees who have been suspended or discharged. If that were already the law, the public would have long ago been able to see the HPD’s disciplinary finding in the Cachola case as well as arbitrator’s decision that reinstated him.
An attorney who represented Cachola previously didn’t return a calling seeking comment on the new allegations.
The post Years After Punching His Girlfriend, Police Sergeant Charged With Domestic Abuse appeared first on Honolulu Civil Beat.