A former Hawaii police officer who forced a homeless man to lick a public urinal was sentenced to four years in prison on Wednesday, according to multiple reports.
Federal District Judge Leslie Kobayashi told defendant John Rabago that he was sworn in as a police officer, but instead took advantage of someone poor and homeless. She asked him to imagine what they were doing to one of his two daughters.
“You took away his only possession: his dignity as a human being,” said Kobayashi.
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Former Honolulu Police Officer Reginald Ramones, center, walks down a street in Honolulu on September 25, 2019. (AP Photo / Jennifer Sinco Kelleher, File)
Rabago, 44, a former Honolulu police officer, pleaded guilty on December 16 to depriving Samuel Ingall, 37, of his civil rights. The January 2018 incident unfolded after Rabago and another officer responded to an annoying complaint that Ingall was in a bathroom in a commercial area of Honolulu.
Rábago said to the man, “If you lick the urinal, you won’t be arrested,” according to reports. He held Ingall down and stepped on his legs until he licked the urinal, the judge said.
“I am here to judge you for the worst thing you have ever done in your life,” said Kobayashi.
The other officer, Reginald Ramones, left the department in August and pleaded guilty to a lesser charge: that he knew Rabago committed a civil rights violation but did not report to authorities. He is scheduled to be sentenced next week. Kobayashi said Rabago then told Ramones to delete text messages about the incident.
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Defense attorney Megan Kau said in December that Rabago was “very sorry, so he took responsibility,” according to Hawaii News Now.
Kau said that after the hearing, she and Rabago were awaiting a sentence of approximately three years.
“I think he is taking the national environment and setting an example,” Kau said of the judge and protests against racial injustice and police misconduct across the country. He argued that it was not the same because Rabago is Filipino-American and the victim is white.
“Two years ago I made a decision that I’m not proud of,” Rabago said when he apologized to the victim and his family. “My actions changed the course of life for all of us.”
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Ingall sued the Honolulu Police Department and the city earlier this year, alleging that officers forced him to lick the public urinal to avoid arrest.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
