A 10 year veteran officer of the Hawaii Police Department has been disgraced with a sentence of 30 months in prison.
Commentators argue that what he did last year warrants an even harsher punishment.
On September 5, 2014 Vincent Morre entered a Honolulu game room with two other officers Nelson Tamayori and Joseph Becera. They were there to serve a warrant.
However the person they were looking for was not present.
Unbeknown to the cops a surveillance camera was recording everything they did that night.
Frustrated at not finding the person he was looking for, Morre charged on innocent civilians. In the video, he is first seen beating an innocent man who did nothing to provoke him.
Jordan Topinio was sitting on a stool when the officer suddenly kicked him in the head. Next to the victim, is another man named Francisco Franson – he too is treated roughly by the enraged cop.
It begins with punching him in the face followed by kicks to the chest.
Once done with Franson the officer’s attention turns to Topinio one more time. He kicks the already injured man, so hard that he falls off his stool.
As if this was not enough, Morre decides to walk away but not before throwing a metal stool in his victim’s direction resulting in an injury that required Topinio to get stitches.
Near the door, the officer turns to a woman and shoves her as Tamayori and Becera look on.
In a blatant act of covering up his crime, Morre then filed a false police report and did not mention the fact that he had abused three people that night.
The other two officers did not challenge the bogus account either; effectively becoming accomplices in a crime.
At this point, the trio had no idea that the entire episode including the ordeal of their victims was captured on surveillance.
It is this footage that became saving grace for the two men and women, who would not have had any way of proving that they had been physically abused and their assailant was in the wrong.
Two days ago a federal judge announced Morre’s sentence, sending him to prison for 2 ½ years.
The officer pleaded guilty on May 19 to two counts of depriving civilians of their right to be free and using excessive force. He also admitted to losing his temper.
The other cops were charged with failing to report the crime. Just over a month later, Becera pleaded guilty to making an attempt to conceal an illegal act by a fellow officer and making a false statement to the FBI.
This case raises some very serious concerns for the public. First, it is not uncommon for members of law enforcement to believe that they are above the law.
As well as this, even if civilians win a court case where they have been assaulted by the police, it is ultimately the city and taxpayer money that pays for the officers’ foolishness.
Watch the video below: