‘Stop the violence’: Ewa Beach family pleads for perpetrators to come forward after assault

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A 63-year-old Ewa Beach man is hospitalized with severe injuries after his family says he was beaten during a confrontation over illegal and loud fireworks.

The Lynn family says the violence in this Ewa Beach neighborhood stemmed from a graduation party across the street Sunday night as people were setting off illegal and loud fireworks.

They say 63-year-old Coby Lynn went over and kicked over a box of fireworks out of frustration and then was mobbed by three young men leaving him with a broken nose, concussion and severe facial injuries.

Lynn’s son, Jim Lynn, says he saw the incident from his bedroom window.

“He kicked over one of the cakes on its last shot and three people came out and mobbed him and one of them hit him so hard he flew out of his slippers into the side of a car on to the asphalt,” said Jim Lynn.

“Please, stop the violence,” he added.

The Lynn family says the beating happened around 10:30 p.m. on the corner of Hanakahi and Ikulani Streets and it was all caught on security camera.

“From three different angles, three people, one of them running across the street, struck him. Three of them swung at the same time and it looks like one or two of them connected. Hard enough for them to throw him in the car,” said Jim Lynn.

On the video, Lynn falls to the ground, gets up and falls again. Later, he held his shirt to his bloody face.

“I feel pretty terrible,” the elder Lynn told Hawaii News Now over the phone from his hospital room.

“It was going off and I overreacted and kicked one of them over,” he added, referring to the fireworks.

Hawaii News Now asked if he remembers being hit by other people.

“No, it was just one punch by one person,” he said.

Lynn’s family maintains it was three perpetrators. During the phone call, Lynn seemed to struggle to speak clearly. His family says he’s been battling brain fog from long COVID and is not a violent person.

He was president of the Ewa Beach Lions Club and active in Weed and Seed to prevent neighborhood crime.

“I would hope that they come forward and take responsibility for what they did to my husband,” said Lynn’s wife, Eileen Lynn.

Mrs. Lynn says even though her husband was upset about the illegal fireworks, what happened to him was wrong.

“They threatened to fight with us. We were called dirty names and even before that they kept coming over to say it was the old man’s fault. The old Caucasian man. I do believe it was like a hate crime,” said Eileen Lynn.

Hawaii News Now contacted HPD about the assault case and are waiting for word back.

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