After getting “roughed up” by a Kaua‘i police officer, resident Lamont Jameson said he plans to file an assault complaint this week. Jameson, who was arrested for second-degree terroristic threatening at 2:42 a.m. on Dec. 27, said he was peacefully
After getting “roughed up” by a Kaua‘i police officer, resident Lamont Jameson said he plans to file an assault complaint this week.
Jameson, who was arrested for second-degree terroristic threatening at 2:42 a.m. on Dec. 27, said he was peacefully laying in the back of his truck at ‘Anini Beach Park — something he does to treat his sciatica — when officers approached him.
There is no curfew at Kaua‘i beaches and residents can be parked in their cars at anytime, as long as they’re not asleep, police said.
Jameson was awake, he said, when one of the officers yelled at him and asked if he had any weapons, then ordered him out of the truck.
After getting out of the back of the truck to retrieve his identification from the ashtray, Jameson exchanged a brief dialogue with one officer, he said.
It was within the moment that ensued that the exchange turned violent, he said.
“When I asked, ‘What am I being charged with?,’ He told me, ‘For sleeping in the vehicle.’
That’s when I blew up,” Jameson said. “I told him, ‘I’m going to beat this citation in court.’ And he said, ‘You’re going to beat me? You’re going to beat me?’”
That’s when Jameson said the arresting officer, Mahi‘ai Na‘ihe, grabbed him by the shoulder and neck and slammed him to the ground, putting his face underneath his knee.
“I thought I was going to die,” he said.
Jameson was then handcuffed and taken into custody for 90 minutes, during which time his car, that had credit cards and a small dog inside, was left unlocked, he said.
Three days later Jameson went to the hospital for cuts and scratches to his face, he said.
Jameson, who said Na‘ihe was at least 6 feet tall and more than 200 pounds, is 5-foot-4 inches and 142 pounds.
Threatening a police officer without a weapon is a misdemeanor, Lt. Ale Quibilan, acting assistant chief of the patrol services bureau, said.
Such a charge usually constitutes an arrest and $100 bail.
Quibilan could only comment on procedural questions because at press time, he had not yet reviewed the officer’s complete report on the incident, he said.
“If officers were walking and they noticed an individual in the car, they have the right to approach them,” Quibilan said. “Mr. Jameson may have been awake at the time, but somewhere along the line he made a threat.”
The arresting officer, who was working the midnight shift from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., was conducting a beat check, something the Kaua‘i Police Department does regularly when things have “slowed down,” Quibilan said.
Beat checks can include beach sweeps, during which time police ask residents for identification and then “inform them of any violation observed at the scene,” he said.
If during that time the resident threatens the officer verbally, that constitutes probable cause to make an arrest.
Examples of verbal threats can allude to physical harm or intent to harm property, Quibilan said.
If a person has a weapon in hand — which can be anything from a gun to a piece of glass — the charge can be enhanced to first-degree terroristic threatening, a felony.
Jameson, who has been ticketed twice in the past four months for sleeping in his vehicle, had both tickets dismissed in court.
In one incident, Jameson said he was working on his laptop when officers ticketed him.
In the second incident, he was talking on his phone and had the phone bill to prove it, he said.
• Amanda C. Gregg, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or agregg@kauaipubco.com.
