Investigations are underway after a secured door opened to allow an arrested man to escape from the police station

HONOLULU (KHON2) – A man arrested by police escaped from the Kapolei Police Station on Sunday.

Local residents are concerned that such incidents could occur again.

“This is clearly an unacceptable mistake,” said Honolulu City Council member Tyler Dos Santos-Tam.

David Montoya, 31, was taken back into custody hours after escaping from the Kapolei Police Department on Sunday morning. Dos Santos-Tam, a member of the Public Safety Committee, said he wants answers.

“It’s not about him being captured afterward,” Dos Santos-Tam explained. “It’s about him being released in the first place. And I think we need to investigate all the things that led to that.”

According to Honolulu police, Montoya was arrested on Sunday for violating a restraining order and warrants. He was transported to the Kapolei Police Station for further processing.

According to police sources, he was allowed to use the restroom. He then went through a secured door and pressed a security button. According to sources, the doorman, who assumed Montoya was a police officer, opened the door, allowing Montoya to escape.

Mikiala Lidstone, secretary of the Kapolei Neighborhood Committee, said she doesn’t understand how something like this could happen.

“I mean, it’s everyone’s reaction. ‘What?’ right,” she said. “It’s disappointing. When you feel or hear that improvements are being made. You hear the rhetoric, but you don’t see it happening.”

She said the incident caused her great concern.

“We want to feel safe. And I feel like we as a community are trying to get our community back under control in the face of rising crime. We have all these community initiatives and then something like this happens. And it feels like a step backwards,” Lidstone said.

In a statement, HPD said, “The Professional Standards Office has initiated an administrative review of the incident to determine whether department policies and procedures were followed.”

The mayor said he trusted that “the authorities will begin their investigations promptly.”

“Our goal must be to reduce crime and hold perpetrators accountable,” Dos Santos-Tam added. “And if one person just walks out of the police station, that’s a pretty big mistake.”

Sunday’s outbreak is not the first time there have been problems at the Kapolei Police Station. In February 2022, 48-year-old Linda Johnson was killed outside the station.

Johnson had been released from custody for violating parking rules and was sitting outside the station when she was allegedly attacked and killed by Michael Armstrong. The attack occurred just minutes after Armstrong was released on charges of assaulting two people, including a police officer.

Armstrong is due to appear in court on July 30 for Johnson’s murder.

Lidstone said the police must improve and something like this must not happen again.

“What can this police department do to rebuild the public’s trust? Because the trust that the public currently has in our department is really fragile,” she said.