The Honolulu City Council has approved payment of a $150,000 settlement in a federal civil rights lawsuit claiming that a Honolulu police officer abused his powers by wrongfully arresting a 15-year-old boy in November 2018, the day after the teen was involved in a fight with the officer’s son.

Jorge and Jennifer Rivera filed the lawsuit Oct. 26 alleging that police officer Kirk Uemura retaliated against and terrorized their son, identified as J.R., and also named the Honolulu Police Department, the city and HPD Sgt. Artie Kendall as defendants.

“While neither the officers nor the City admitted liability, the six-figure settlement is an indirect signal of just how wrong the abuse of power was here — and is significant for that reason,” said a statement by attorney Eric Seitz, who represented the family along with the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii and Revere & Associates LLLC.

The Council approved the settlement March 17.

The complaint said Uemura was “motivated solely by a personal vengeance” when he followed J.R.’s bus to Kalaheo High School in his patrol car, forcibly seized the teen and “subjected him to an unlawful search, detention and harassing interrogation in plain view of surrounding students and staff.”

Uemura allegedly filed a false police report saying J.R. was engaged in criminal harassment against his son, the lawsuit said. The family claims that, in fact, it was the officer’s son who “bullied and taunted” J.R. for several months at school after “perceived interactions” between J.R. and the other boy’s girlfriend. The conflict culminated Nov. 8, 2018, when Uemura’s son challenged J.R. to a fight and injured him with punches, the complaint said.

After Uemura arrested J.R. the next day, without reading the teen his Miranda rights, he enlisted the help of another officer, who took the boy to the Kailua Police Station, where he was handcuffed, shackled, fingerprinted and placed in a cell, according to the complaint.

When the Riveras arrived at the station and asked why Uemura was allowed to interrogate and arrest their son when there was a clear conflict of interest, “the sergeant in charge tapped his badge and exclaimed, ‘That’s what gives (Officer Uemura) the right to do what he did,’” the lawsuit stated.

The complaint alleged that Uemura violated HPD policies and state administrative rules by failing to notify school officials before the arrest of a minor at a public school and also violated J.R.’s constitutional rights.

“What my son had to endure at the hands of the HPD was extremely traumatic and, to this day, he believes that everything that happened to him was his fault,” said Jennifer Rivera in a news release. “We wanted to ensure that no other families suffer the way we had to. But without policy change, HPD officers can continue with business as usual, and that’s scary to us.”

Uemura, contacted for comment Tuesday, said he was unsure what he could say and would have to consult his attorney.

During settlement negotiations, the city refused to tell the family’s attorneys what disciplinary actions had been taken against the officers involved, according to the release. However, by analyzing HPD’s 2020 legislative disciplinary report Opens in a new tab, the attorneys determined that Uemura received only a one-day suspension, which he is appealing.