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No arrest yet in Nukumoi beating
By TGI STAFF
No arrest has been made in the alleged hate-crime, the beating of Kaua'i Chrstian Fellowship youth pastor Justin Bundschuh, 26, which occurred Saturday, August 23 at Nukumoi Surf Company.
"There have been no further developments," said Liuetenant Roy Asher of Kauai Police Department. "We have a suspect, but he's in hiding."
Justin was in the middle of his last day of work on Saturday, he said, while renting surfboards and snorkel gear at Nukumoi Surf Co. at Po‘ipu, and he was attacked, pushed into a rack of surfboards, and punched, while his assailant screamed racial epithets at him.
Bundschuh is asking the Kaua‘i Police Department to treat the assault as a hate crime, which would be the first hate crime prosecuted on Kaua‘i under state law.
Police Officer Arnold Cayabyab, the initial investigator of the assault, agreed with Justin. "I informed Justin that it is a hate crime," he said in a phone interview on Tuesday.
Lt. Asher said that the case has been turned over to KPD detectives, who will be continuing the investigation.
This would be the first prosecution of anyone on Kaua‘i under the Hate Crime Bill, which was signed into law by former Governor Ben Cayetano in June 2001. The Hate Crime Law allows for extended penalties, including prison sentences, for anyone convicted of a hate crime. Two people have been convicted in the state since the law was passed.
The only other "hate crime" on Kauai, the two campers at Polihale who were arrested Memorial Day weekend, 2001 for burning two gay campers' tent, could not be charged with the hate crime statute because the law was not in effect at that time.
"There have been no further developments," said Liuetenant Roy Asher of Kauai Police Department. "We have a suspect, but he's in hiding."
Justin was in the middle of his last day of work on Saturday, he said, while renting surfboards and snorkel gear at Nukumoi Surf Co. at Po‘ipu, and he was attacked, pushed into a rack of surfboards, and punched, while his assailant screamed racial epithets at him.
Bundschuh is asking the Kaua‘i Police Department to treat the assault as a hate crime, which would be the first hate crime prosecuted on Kaua‘i under state law.
Police Officer Arnold Cayabyab, the initial investigator of the assault, agreed with Justin. "I informed Justin that it is a hate crime," he said in a phone interview on Tuesday.
Lt. Asher said that the case has been turned over to KPD detectives, who will be continuing the investigation.
This would be the first prosecution of anyone on Kaua‘i under the Hate Crime Bill, which was signed into law by former Governor Ben Cayetano in June 2001. The Hate Crime Law allows for extended penalties, including prison sentences, for anyone convicted of a hate crime. Two people have been convicted in the state since the law was passed.
The only other "hate crime" on Kauai, the two campers at Polihale who were arrested Memorial Day weekend, 2001 for burning two gay campers' tent, could not be charged with the hate crime statute because the law was not in effect at that time.
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