Honolulu Not Liable for Drunk Cop Who Shot Bartender by Accident

A Honolulu bartender accidentally shot by an intoxicated off-duty police officer can’t pursue civil rights claims against the city and county, because police department policies about off-duty officers carrying weapons didn’t create “deliberate indifference to her federally protected rights,” the Ninth Circuit said Friday.

Hololulu isn’t liable under federal civil rights law because the plaintiff bartender, Hyun Ju Park, didn’t show the police department was on notice that its policies would likely deprive her of those rights, the court said.

Park failed to plausibly allege that the police chief was aware of similar incidents in which off-duty officers mishandled their ...