A Democrat hopeful gunning for a seat in Congress is sitting behind bars on $1 million bail after police described a chaotic beachside confrontation on Maui that involved a knife, repeated threats, and the candidate left unconscious in the sand.
Kirill Basin, the 40-year-old primary challenger to Rep. Jill Tokuda in Hawaii's 2nd Congressional District, faces two counts of first-degree terroristic threatening stemming from the Aug. 1 incident at Keawakapu Beach in South Kihei.
It started with a request to turn the music down. A 61-year-old man asked Basin to lower the volume, and Basin, police say, replied by implying he had a firearm and threatening to shoot the man's wife.
That was the point a bystander stepped in.
Footage circulating online shows the congressional candidate advancing aggressively toward a group of beachgoers before stepping back and declaring, "I told him if he wants to go to the hospital, come here."
Basin next confronted the man directly and swung a beach chair that failed to connect. A single return punch sent him sprawling unconscious onto the sand as the man stated, "Watch your fucking mouth."
Rather than remain down, Basin rose again, cautioned the man about facing "jail," and then rushed forward while yelling, "Come on, bitch!"
It was after the altercation, police say, that the knife came out. Basin allegedly armed himself and threatened multiple people before throwing the blade into the ocean. Lucky Kama, the bystander who has since spoken publicly, described it as a five-inch switchblade and said he found it and turned it over to officers.
"He ended up
