Lesbian couple awarded $80,000 after Honolulu cop assaulted them for kissing in supermarket
An LA couple has settled out of court with the city of Honolulu after a local policeman assaulted them when he saw them kissing in the aisle of a supermarket reports, Hawaii News Now.
Courtney Wilson and her partner Taylor Guerrero filed a federal lawsuit in October of 2015 against the Honolulu Police Department and officer Bobby Harrison, a 26-year veteran of the force, stating that he assaulted and then arrested them because he didn't like their public display of affection.
According to the couple they were targeted because they're lesbians.
In an interview, Wilson said Harrison confronted them after they kissed before punching her in the face after a brief struggle.
“I got punched in the face by him,” Wilson said. “I split my nose open. We were on the ground.”
According to the the two women, they were then held down by the store's employees while Harrison went in search of zip ties.
“They took us down to the basement of Foodland where they continued to harass us about our conduct in the store, asking us if it was worth it, if we were happy where we are,” Wilson explained.
In his report, Harrison admitted to being offended, saying,"I wouldn't want my children to see that."
The two were then taken into custody for assaulting a police officer and were forced to use their remaining vacation money to post bail.
Adding insult to injury, they were told they couldn’t leave Oahu as a condition of their release, and ended up living homeless on the island.
Five months later Honolulu prosecutors threw out the case.
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