Four deputies from the Hawaii Department of Law Enforcement were accused of giving their Black co-worker a pretty hard time last year. By a hard time, we mean they allegedly racially harassed him for months - so bad, it resulted in cuffs for every cop involved.
Deputy Martin Horton, 56, told Hawaii News Now he was the target of a slew of racially charged insults and banter that began after he graduated from training in December of 2023. He’d just been appointed to be the new deputy on probation, assigned to the state Capitol when one day, Deputy Alvin Turla made two inappropriate, sexual comments about his lips. When he brought up the issue to a sergeant, he said he was rudely dismissed.
“His comment to me was that you’re nothing, you’re no one,” Horton told reporters.
Horton said he kept his head down and rolled with the punches until March, when an opportunity presented itself for him to unload the clip: a probe by the Criminal Investigations Division into work culture. Horton then detailed the racial harassment he faced since training ended, citing comments about fried chicken and watermelon.
Suddenly, one-by-one, officers were being plucked from the department and placed on paid leave upon pending investigations into the claims, per Honolulu Civil Beat. Over the course of one week, the department announced the arrest of deputies Alvin Turla, Sgt. Erich Mitamura William Gary for harassment. Deputy William Keahi was arrested for the same charge but also reckless endangering from a claim he forced Horton to run into airport traffic to stop a moving vehicle on foot, the report says.
There’s little to no details as to whether these charges relate to Horton’s allegations. The department didn’t specify. However, Horton seems to believe the charges were a result of him whistleblowing his experience at the department.
“I can’t categorize it as being criminal, but as a subordinate ... when something to that magnitude where someone is being degraded, they’re being humiliated in the sense, I felt like my rights were being violated,” he said to Hawaii News Now.
Since the first got swept from under the rug, Horton said he was worried about the safety of himself and his family in fear of retaliation. The report says he was granted special protection, and moved to an alternate location with his family.