⁍ A former Honolulu police officer is sentenced to four years in prison for forcing a homeless man to lick a public urinal.
⁍ John Rabago, 44, was charged with conspiring to deprive a person of his civil rights and acting under color of law.
⁍ Rabago and another officer responded to a nuisance complaint when they found a homeless man in a stall in a public restroom.

– A former Honolulu police officer was sentenced to four years in prison Wednesday for forcing a homeless man to lick a public urinal, CNN reports. John Rabago, 44, was charged with conspiring to deprive a person of his civil rights and acting under color of law to deprive the same individual of his civil rights. He pleaded guilty to both charges in December. Rabago and another officer responded to a nuisance complaint in January 2018 when they found the homeless man in a stall in a public restroom. According to court documents, Rabago and the other officer stood in the doorway of the bathroom and told the man that he “could only avoid arrest if he licked the urinal in the bathroom.” The man “then reluctantly knelt down before the urinal and licked the urinal,” court records say. “Defendant Rabago then allowed (the man) to gather his possessions and leave the bathroom.” The other officer left, leaving Rabago alone with the man. Rabago’s attorney, Megan Kau, says she’s concerned about the length of the sentence. “It seems to be a reaction to what’s going on in the nation regarding racism in the police forces on the mainland,” she tells CNN.