Women's Suit: Kiss Got Us Arrested, Stranded in Hawaii

A vacation in Hawaii turned into a forced six-month stay on Oahu after a kiss
By Elizabeth Armstrong Moore,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 30, 2015 7:10 AM CDT
Women's Suit: Kiss Got Us Arrested, Stranded in Hawaii
Courtney Wilson, left, and Taylor Guerrero pose for a photo in Honolulu on Wednesday.   (AP Photo/Jennifer Sinco Kelleher)

When Courtney Wilson and her girlfriend Taylor Guerrero visited Hawaii from California for the first time on vacation last March, they didn't realize they were about to be trapped on Oahu for six months. But on their second day, they went grocery shopping at Foodland Pupukea—and "we were holding hands and I was kissing her cheek," says Guerrero. Those kisses allegedly perturbed uniformed, off-duty police officer Bobby Harrison, who they say told them "you don't know the difference between a motel and a grocery store" and said the store was going to hand them a trespass notice. Things spiraled from there: Wilson tried to call 911; Guerrero says she was shoved and kicked Harrison as she was falling. The women say they were roughed up, arrested, scolded in the basement of the market, and released on bail but required to stay on the island—for a period that lasted five months, until the prosecutor dropped the case, reports Hawaii News Now.

What's more, the surveillance video from the time of the incident has gone missing, the women's attorney tells KHON2. "I just think that what he did was absolutely wrong without a doubt," Wilson says. "I just really want an example to be made." Harrison, a 26-year veteran of the force, has not released a comment but remains on active duty, while the police department says it has launched an internal investigation, reports the AP. After spending three days in jail, the couple made ends meet cleaning vacation rentals and couch-surfing in the homes of family, friends, and strangers they befriended. They even slept in a park and say they almost went to a homeless shelter. They filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday. (Leisha Hailey and her girlfriend were booted off a Southwest flight after they say they shared one kiss.)

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