A man who was dragged out of the state Senate chamber and arrested for objecting to lawmakers opening their daily proceedings with a prayer has reached a $100,000 out-of-court settlement with the state.
The state has agreed to pay Mitchell Kahle and Kevin Hughes, a friend of Kahle’s who videotaped the incident, to settle their lawsuit against Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Ben Villaflor, two of his subordinates and four state sheriff’s deputies.
"The lawsuit establishes that peaceful, nonviolent protest should not be met with aggressive force," said attorney James Bickerton, representing Kahle and Hughes, "and that merely filming in a public space is not grounds for assault or harassment or arrest by law enforcement."
Kahle, who was arrested and acquitted at trial of disorderly conduct, said he was pleased with the results of the lawsuit even before the settlement because the Senate has already taken corrective action. As part of the deal, the state will provide Kahle and Hughes paperwork certifying that the defendants have undergone appropriate training for dealing with protesters.
Senate President Shan Tsutsui was not available for comment. However, a representative said sergeant-at-arms employees have undergone law enforcement training offered by the state Department of Public Safety.
The Senate also changed its rules last year, no longer requiring an invocation to open its daily order of business.
The state House makes invocations optional, limits them to two minutes and prohibits them from being used to proselytize, advance or disparage any religion or point of view. And attendance at and participation in invocations are optional.
Video recorded by Hughes and a local television station, both available for viewing online through YouTube, capture Kahle speaking up in the middle of a prayer on April 29, 2010, the last day of the legislative session.
Then-Senate President Colleen Hanabusa had already asked everyone in the chamber to stand, and the Rev. David Hockney of Olivet Baptist Church had asked everyone to bow their heads for the prayer.
After stating his name and objecting to the prayer as a constitutional violation, Kahle, founder of the Hawaii Citizens for the Separation of State and Church, sat down.
The video then shows Villaflor pulling on Kahle’s arm. Then he and a sheriff’s deputy, both holding on to Kahle, and accompanied by another deputy and two sergeant-at-arms employees, hustle Kahle out of the chamber and into the Capitol courtyard.
There Villaflor approaches the camera and swings his hand down in front of the lens. Hughes claims Villaflor punched the camera.
Hughes’ video then shows two sergeant-at-arms employees and a sheriff’s deputy wrestling Kahle to the ground. The television video shows Kahle on the ground with three uniformed deputies and Villaflor on top of him.
Hughes claims several sergeant-at-arms employees attacked him, broke his camera and tried to take it away from him. He filed an assault and attempted robbery complaint with the sheriff’s deputies.
Last week, after the two sides had indicated to the court that they had a tentative settlement, Hughes received a letter from the city prosecutor’s office saying it will not pursue charges against the sergeant-at-arms employees.
