State Rep. Matthew LoPresti was cleared of a driving under the influence of an intoxicant charge, nearly three months after being arrested on suspicion of the misdemeanor offense.
A state District Court judge dismissed the case recently on grounds that police had no probable cause to arrest LoPresti in June after a police officer stopped to see if anything was wrong when the lawmaker stopped his car in a shoulder lane of Fort Weaver Road. He refused to take a field sobriety test.
LoPresti, who represents House District 41, which includes part of Ewa Beach, is running for reelection on Nov. 8 against Republican business owner David Alcos. The Democrat has served three terms in the House.
On June 16, LoPresti was in the shoulder lane with his vehicle hazard lights flashing when Honolulu police Sgt. Steven Chun pulled up to check on the situation. According to documents in the case, LoPresti had stopped because he and his wife in the passenger seat were having a disagreement.
Chun reported asking LoPresti if he was OK, and that LoPresti’s vehicle rolled forward two times, once after Chun told LoPresti to stay where he was. LoPresti claimed in a court filing that Chun said the shoulder lane was a bike route and, therefore, LoPresti believed he was being instructed to move ahead.
After more interaction, Chun said he noticed LoPresti’s eyes were “red, watery, and glassy” and that his breath smelled of alcohol, according to the officer’s report.
Chun asked LoPresti multiple times if he would voluntarily participate in a field sobriety test, according to evidence filed in the case. In response, LoPresti asked why it was relevant, stated that he didn’t do anything wrong, denied there was probable cause for a test, and ultimately refused the test until being placed under arrest.
A little over three hours later, a blood test administered to LoPresti showed that he an alcohol content level of 0.139, which is above the 0.08 legal limit in Hawaii, according to court documents.
LoPresti’s attorney, Alen Kaneshiro, contended in court that police lacked probable cause to arrest, draw blood from and charge his client.
Kaneshiro said in a written motion to dismiss the case that alcohol odor along with red and glassy eyes may amount to reasonable suspicion that a suspect was driving while impaired, but that such observations don’t amount to probable cause for an arrest.
Kaneshiro also said that LoPresti’s refusal to take the field sobriety test could not be treated as probable cause for arrest because LoPresti wasn’t refusing the standard field sobriety test, or SFST, to avoid failure.
“The purported ‘refusal’ of the SFST was not a refusal,” Kaneshiro said in the filing. “Defendant was challenging (Chun’s) basis for stopping him and asking him to participate in an SFST … .”
At a Sept. 2 hearing, District Court Judge Sherri-Ann Iha granted LoPresti’s motion to dismiss the case and filed a written order Sept. 16.
LoPresti, an associate professor of philosophy and humanities at Hawaii Pacific University, did not respond to a request for comment.
Court records show LoPresti was arrested and convicted of drunken driving in 2001. He is the second state lawmaker to have a DUI case dismissed this year.
In January, Rep. Sharon Har (D, Kapolei-Makakilo), had a case dismissed against her stemming from a 2021 arrest on suspicion of drunken driving after police found her headed the wrong way on South Beretania Street one evening a little after 10 p.m.
Har issued a public apology and said she was impaired because she had a beer with dinner and was taking prescription cough medication containing codeine to treat a respiratory illness.
Her attorney, Howard Luke, sought and won a permanent dismissal from state Judge Steven Hartley by contending that the charge against Har was invalid because a Dec. 10 Hawaii Supreme Court decision deemed criminal complaints to be defective if they don’t follow a procedural law requiring a signed affidavit or official declaration from a complaining party.
Har, an attorney, has been in the Legislature for 17 years. She is running for reelection against Republican Diamond Garcia, the chief of staff to Rep. Gene Ward (R, Hawaii Kai-Kalama Valley).
