Lawsuit filed by Kaua'i police chief dismissed
By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau
LIHU'E, Kaua'i — U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway has dismissed the lawsuit Kaua'i Police Chief George Freitas filed after the Kaua'i Police Commission suspended him.
Mollway ruled that there was no point in pursuing the case, since Freitas has been reinstated and received full pay during his suspension. The lawsuit was against the commission and then-Mayor Maryanne Kusaka.
FREITAS
Freitas was placed on paid leave in August 2001, and the police commission hired a Honolulu Police Department investigator to look into a range of charges. Some of the charges were never made public. Among those that were, the most serious was an allegation — which was not upheld — that he had hindered a criminal prosecution. One of the least serious was one alleging he had parked on the wrong side of the road on one occasion. It was not upheld either.
The investigator interviewed 150 witnesses and produced a file six inches thick.
Five months after the case started, the commission voted to issue Freitas letters of reprimand on two charges, citing the chief with allowing a civilian passenger to ride in his county vehicle while not on county business, and with yelling at a subordinate.
Freitas returned to his job in January 2002.
Throughout the case, Freitas complained he was never given a public or private forum in which to answer the charges. From the first, he said that if anyone had asked, he could have easily explained most of the situations the charges covered.
"I got smeared. There was no due process," he said.
He said he plans to meet with his attorney to determine whether to take further legal action.
