When Police Use Force
HRS 803-7 — the force necessary to compel submission, and a duty on other officers to intervene
Where a person being arrested refuses to submit or tries to escape, a law enforcement officer may use the degree of force necessary to compel submission.
Who handles this in Hawaii: Hawaii State Bar Association, Lawyer Referral and Information Service; and legal aid programs and the state offices, listed in the Hawaii directory.
- An officer who reasonably believes another officer is using unnecessary or excessive force on an arrestee, in violation of law or department policy, has a duty to intervene immediately to prevent it, where that can be done safely.
- That officer also reports the incident to the other officer's supervisor as soon as practicable.
- Each department reports these incidents to the legislature every year, with the facts and any discipline imposed.
Force in making an arrest is justified when the person making it believes the force is immediately necessary to effect a lawful arrest, and only where the purpose of the arrest is made known, or believed known, and any warrant is valid or believed valid.
Deadly force in making an arrest is justified only for a felony, by or assisting someone authorized to act as a law enforcement officer, with no substantial risk believed to innocent people, and where the crime involved deadly force or its threat, or delay risks death or serious bodily injury.
The state's own sections are not the only measure of police force. Under the Fourth Amendment, the Supreme Court of the United States has held that force used in an arrest, a stop or any other seizure is judged by objective reasonableness, from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene rather than with hindsight, and that deadly force may not be used to stop a fleeing suspect unless the officer has probable cause to believe the suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others. Those holdings are a floor: a state's own constitution and statutes can give more protection than they do, never less.
Sources for this section (4)
- HRS 803-7 — Use of force; duty to intervene and report unnecessary or excessive force
- HRS 703-307 — Use of force in law enforcement
- Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386 (1989) — Force during a seizure is judged by objective reasonableness from the officer's perspective at the time
- Tennessee v. Garner, 471 U.S. 1 (1985) — Deadly force against a fleeing suspect is unreasonable absent probable cause of a significant threat of death or serious injury
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Hawaii attorney.