Two police officer’s charged in assault of suspect are back at DPS

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The decision by the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to allow two of the four police officers arrested and charged for their role in the assault of a man accused of assaulting his girlfriend over year ago, to return to work after they posted bonds last week has raised a lot of questions in the department itself.

Samoa News understands that two of the four police officers involved in this assault case, Captain Margie Alofaituli and Off. Elleryquinn Histake returned back to work in full police uniform last week after they posted bonds.

Sources who wish to remain anonymous expressed their disappointment about the decision.

“This is ridiculous. DPS disallows officers who were arrested and face misdemeanors charges including driving under the influence of alcohol to report back to work but now they allow cops who are facing felony charges to report back to work,” one source told Samoa News.

Another source said these cops don’t belong in the DPS workplace and the moment they were served with arrest warrants and were booked and confined, that was a probable cause for termination of service.

“The evidences speaks for itself and the fact that the injuries on the victim’s facial area was caused by the hands of police officers who were sworn to uphold the law and protect the safety of the community,” one source said.

A retired cop who served in the force for over 25 years told Samoa News that these cops should not be allowed back in the field, nor should they get a second chance to wear the uniform.

“These cops were arrested and charged for the brutal attack on a civilian.

“They took the law in their own hands and lied that the victim … resisted,” the retired cop said, adding that, “How could [it] be the victim resisted arrest when he was handcuffed and beaten at the back of the police unit.”

One DPS senior official said all the four officers should be placed on leave while their cases are pending in court and until their matters are finalized.

“This is a clear conflict of interest when a police officer is charged for something he or she allegedly did but later on that person is assigned back to do the job where the alleged crime happened,” the senior official said.

Samoa News was told that Capt. Alofaituli and Off. Histake were assigned back to their regular duties immediately after they posted bond.

DPS Deputy Commissioner Jerry Letuli confirmed that Capt. Alofaituli and Off. Histake are now back to work during a telephone interview with Samoa News on Wednesday evening.

However, they are not assigned to do any police work, instead, they are only allowed to do office work such as answering the telephone in the office and doing paperwork.

“The decision to allow these two officers back to work was very easy and clear and there is nothing to prevent them from reporting back to work,” Letuli said.

Letuli disagreed with the thoughts that all four police officers must be placed on leave while awaiting the outcome of their court cases. He explained that taking annual leave is a decision made by the officer — not DPS.

“I wanted to made it clear to those who disagree with our decision that Capt. Alofaituli and Off. Histake are no longer performing police officer’s duty. They are now assigned to do ‘light duty’.”

However, one of the complaints was that Capt. Alofaituli is now assigned back to her position as a Watch Commander. When asked to explain, Letuli said they while Capt. Alofaituli is assigned back to her watch commander position, she is only allowed to perform light duty.

The deputy commissioner further explained that any defendant in a criminal trial is assumed to be innocent until they have been proven guilty.

The four police officers, Capt. Alofaituli, along with the three officers, Histake, Dustin Maiava and Faauu Levi waived their rights to a preliminary examination last week. They all appeared in High Court before Acting Associate Justice Elvis P. Patea for arraignments where each of the defendants entered a not guilty plea to the charges against them.

Pretrial conference is now scheduled for August, 2022.

Off. Levi was remanded back to the custody of the government until a $25,000 surety bond is posted.

The other three defendants, Alofaituli, Histake and Maiava, are released after their bonds were posted.

BACKGROUND

Alofaituli is charged with forgery, criminal fraud and offering a false instrument for filing, all class C felonies, punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to 7 years, a fine of up to $5,000.

Maiava, Histake and. Levi are each charged with responsibility of another (assault in the 1st-degree), a class B felony, punishable by a term of imprisonment from 5 to 15 years, one count of criminal fraud and offering a false instrument for filling, both class C felonies, along with one count of misconduct in the administration of Justice and false report, both class B misdemeanors.

The officers are accused of beating the victim, Sitope Faalata, who had allegedly assaulted his girlfriend on the night of May 8, 2021. After the girlfriend filed a complaint against him at the central police station.

Off. Levi, a close friend of the woman, is said to have gone to the marketplace in Fagatogo, where the victim was hanging out with others, and is alleged to have punched the victim more than once, during the arrest — causing him to lose consciousness.

The other officers who were present when the assault took place are also alleged to have had a role in the beating or hiding facts about the incident. The officers claime that the victim resisted arrest and they had to use force to restrain him.

Text messages, which were part of the police investigation, show that Cpt. Alofaituli knew or suspected that Faalata had sustained injuries at the hands of the police officers. Further, as part of the cover up, she wrote the report of the investigation of the alleged assault, which had the signature of another officer.