A bystander knocked a Democratic congressional candidate in Hawaii unconscious during a viral beach confrontation days before the state primary. Authorities later charged the candidate with two felonies after police alleged that he threatened beachgoers and armed himself with a knife.
Kirill Basin, 40, appeared Tuesday in a Wailuku courtroom in handcuffs on two counts of first-degree terroristic threatening. A judge kept his bail at $1 million, Hawaii News Now reported.
“These are just allegations. My client has a presumption of innocence,” attorney Brandon Segal told Hawaii News Now.
Video shows candidate swing beach chair
The August 1 confrontation began after a 61-year-old man asked Basin to lower the volume of his music at Keawakapu Beach in South Kihei, the Maui Police Department said. Basin allegedly implied that he had a firearm and would shoot the man’s wife.
Video obtained by Hawaii News Now shows Basin swinging a beach chair before a bystander knocks him to the ground.
The bystander, identified only as Kama, is a Maui construction worker and father with mixed martial arts training, the outlet reported.
“He put his hands on me and as soon as he tried to shove me, I hit him with a left and a right and that’s when he stumbled and fell over the chairs,” Kama told Hawaii News Now.
Kama said Basin swung the beach chair at him before Kama knocked him unconscious. Police also alleged that Basin pulled a knife, threatened multiple people and threw it into the ocean. Kama said he recovered a 5-inch switchblade and gave it to responding officers.
Defense disputes knife allegation
Segal disputed the account and said the publicly circulated videos do not show Basin holding a knife or firearm.
“There’s no evidence in any of these videos that have been circulated tremendously that he ever had a knife in his possession. He never had a firearm in his possession,” Segal said.
Candidate remains on primary ballot
Hawaii’s official primary ballot lists Basin as a Democratic candidate for the state’s 2nd Congressional District. He faces incumbent U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda (D-Hawaii), Greg Guithues and Steven King in Saturday’s primary.
“Violence has no place in our communities or in public service,” Tokuda said in a statement. “Anyone holding or seeking office, at any level of government, should be held to a higher standard. Our communities deserve leaders who bring people together, not those who contribute to further division or violence.”
Kama said he did not know who Basin was and stepped in because he feared the confrontation could injure someone.
“You do what’s right because that’s what we should do and that’s my whole motto in life,” Kama said.
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