Man Sentenced to 16 Years for Critically Injuring Honolulu Police Officer

A 41-year-old man has been sen­tenced to 16 years in prison for crit­i­cal­ly injur­ing a Hon­olu­lu police offi­cer. The inci­dent occurred in the ear­ly morn­ing hours of Feb­ru­ary 16, 2023, in Laie.

Defendant Found Guilty of First-Degree Assault

The man, Hokuokalani Patoc, was ini­tial­ly charged with first-degree attempt­ed mur­der. How­ev­er, a jury found him guilty of the less­er charge of first-degree assault. Had he been con­vict­ed of the orig­i­nal charge, he would have faced life impris­on­ment with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole.

Judge Imposes Maximum Sentence

Cir­cuit Judge Paul Wong sen­tenced Patoc to the max­i­mum term allow­able for first-degree assault: 16 years in prison. The judge also imposed addi­tion­al sen­tences for resist­ing an order to stop and unau­tho­rized con­trol of a pro­pelled vehicle.

Violent Attack Left Officer with Serious Injuries

The attack on the police offi­cer involved the use of a foot-long met­al car jack exten­sion. The offi­cer sus­tained severe injuries, includ­ing bleed­ing to the brain, skull frac­tures, and a scalp lac­er­a­tion. He con­tin­ues to expe­ri­ence the effects of the attack, which include headaches, loss of smell, and shoul­der injury.

Defendant’s History of Violent Behavior

The sen­tenc­ing judge not­ed Patoc’s his­to­ry of vio­lent behav­ior, includ­ing a pri­or inci­dent of crim­i­nal tres­pass­ing at an ele­men­tary school. The judge also cit­ed con­cerns about the defen­dan­t’s men­tal health and poten­tial for future violence.

Victim’s Family Seeks Protection

Fol­low­ing the attack, the vic­tim’s fam­i­ly obtained a pro­tec­tive order against Patoc. The order was grant­ed after the defen­dant was incar­cer­at­ed, as the fam­i­ly felt unsafe before that time.

Defense Argument Fails to Persuade Judge

Patoc’s defense attor­ney argued that a longer sen­tence was not nec­es­sary for the pro­tec­tion of the pub­lic. How­ev­er, the judge reject­ed this argu­ment, stat­ing that the court, not the jury, makes the final deci­sion on sentencing.