This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
The city of Honolulu will pay $80,000 to a Los Angeles lesbian couple who were arrested and jailed on the island after a Honolulu Police Officer didn't like seeing the pair display affection in a grocery store on Oahu's North Shore, according to KABC.
25-year-old Courtney Wilson and 21-year-old Taylor Guerrero were originally arrested by Honolulu Police officer Bobby Harrison back in March of 2015 for felony assault on a police officer. Though the couple were ordered to remain in Hawaii to attend various court proceedings, the charges against them were ultimately dropped after five months.
The settlement comes in exchange for Guerrero and Wilson dropping a lawsuit the pair filed against Harrison and Honolulu for unspecified damages. The settlement dismisses Harrison and the city from the lawsuit, though it's not an admission of wrongdoing, according to the NY Daily News.
The couple first encountered Harrison inside of a Foodland grocery store on the second day of their Hawaii vacation. Harrison asked them, in a loud voice, to "take it somewhere else." The couple obliged, but Harrison was still bothered.
A few minutes later, after Harrison saw them holding hands again, Harrison allegedly told them he could have them thrown out of the store for their PDA. Then, for a third time, Harrison approached the couple while they were in a check out line. This time, Harrison grabbed Wilson by the wrist and allegedly shouted that the couple didn't know "the difference between a motel and a grocery store."
What followed was a scuffle. While Wilson attempted to call 9-1-1, Guerrero attempted to break the two apart. Harrison supposedly knocked Guerrero to the floor, and allegedly punched Wilson in the face.
Harrison bound the couple with zip-ties while they were on the floor of the grocery store, and ordered the employees of the store to hold them down while waiting for "backup" to arrive. The store employees did not do as Harrison ordered, but the couple was arrested anyway. Wilson and Guerrero spent the next three days in a Honolulu Jail, only getting out after they paid a bail-bonds firm $1,300 (of a $12,000 total bond).
What was supposed to be a dreamy vacation then turned into a nightmare, as the couple was ordered to remain on Oahu to attend future court dates. The pair slept in parks and with family friends for five months until the charges were dropped five months later.
Wilson and Guerrero are no longer a couple, but remain friends.
