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AMERICANALMANAC (Sadie Smith) - Hawaii Democratic candidate Kirill Basin arrested twice on felony threat charges after beach brawl, prior gun incident Wed Aug 5 17:33:08 2026

A Democratic congressional candidate in Hawaii now faces multiple felony charges after a caught-on-camera beach altercation, his second arrest for terroristic threatening in a matter of months. Kirill Basin, 40, was arrested on two counts of first-degree terroristic threatening after witnesses say he menaced beachgoers at Keawakapu Beach in South Kihei, Maui, with a knife […] The post Hawaii Democratic candidate Kirill Basin arrested twice on felony threat charges after beach brawl, prior gun incident appeared first on American Almanac .

A Democratic congressional candidate in Hawaii now faces multiple felony charges after a caught-on-camera beach altercation, his second arrest for terroristic threatening in a matter of months. Kirill Basin, 40, was arrested on two counts of first-degree terroristic threatening after witnesses say he menaced beachgoers at Keawakapu Beach in South Kihei, Maui, with a knife and claims of having a gun. The incident, captured on video, ended with Basin knocked unconscious by a bystander before police took him into custody. A judge set bail at $1 million and ordered Basin to undergo a mental health assessment. Basin is challenging Rep. Jill Tokuda in Hawaii's 2nd Congressional District. His campaign now carries two separate felony arrest records, the beach incident and a prior episode in May, when he allegedly pulled a gun on Maui County government workers inside a building in Wailuku. Basin escalated a noise complaint into a felony arrest The confrontation started when a 61-year-old man asked Basin to turn his music down on the crowded beach. Basin, wearing only his underwear, began shouting and threatening people. He walked toward a group of beachgoers to argue, then retreated before squaring off with a large tattooed man. Basin tried to swing a beach chair at the man. The man punched Basin in the face and knocked him out cold. That did not end the confrontation. Basin got back up and, according to witnesses, told beachgoers he had a gun. He also allegedly pulled a knife on the man who had hit him. Fox News reported that one of the two felony counts specifically alleges Basin threatened bystander Kama Homan with the blade. Homan, who has MMA training, intervened as Basin grew more volatile. He described the scene in blunt terms: "I'm like, maybe I should intervene. As I got closer and closer, he was just getting more irate and violent." Homan said Basin shoved him, and he responded with two punches that sent Basin stumbling over beach chairs: "He put his hands on me and as soon as he tried to shove me, I hit him with a left and a right. That's when he stumbled and fell over the chairs." Homan recovered a 5-inch switchblade from Basin and turned it over to Maui police. Officers also recovered a knife Basin allegedly tossed into the water. $1 million bail and a court-ordered mental health evaluation Basin appeared before a judge who maintained the $1 million bail. The court imposed strict conditions: no contact with five individuals connected to the beach incident, a ban from Keawakapu Beach, mandatory avoidance of drugs and alcohol, and a mental health assessment. The charges are serious. First-degree terroristic threatening is a felony under Hawaii law, and Basin faces two counts from this single beach episode alone. But this was not Basin's first run-in with law enforcement on identical charges. In May, the New York Post reported , Basin allegedly stormed a government building in Wailuku and pulled a gun on officials. He allegedly threatened two Maui County workers before fleeing the building. Police arrested him on one count of terrorist threatening in the first degree. Hawaii Civil Beat previously reported on the Wailuku incident , describing Basin as a longshot congressional candidate who pulled a gun on county workers. The current status of that charge is unclear from available court records. Basin filed a lawsuit against police one day before his arrest The timing of Basin's beach arrest carries its own layer. On Thursday, the day before police took him into custody, Basin posted on Instagram about a lawsuit he claimed to have served against law enforcement. His post read: "This is the lawsuit I served today. It basically outlines how 3 police officers tortured me for 14 hours. That's the gist. It'll never happen to anyone again." No details about the lawsuit's contents, the court where it was filed, or the officers named have surfaced beyond Basin's own description. Within 24 hours of that post, Basin was back in handcuffs on fresh felony charges. During the beach altercation itself, Basin showed no sign of restraint. Video captured him taunting the man who confronted him. At one point, Basin shouted at the man directly: "Come on, b****!" He also told the man, in his own words: "I told him if he wants to go to the hospital, come here." A large tattooed man on the beach used a racial slur against Basin before the physical confrontation escalated, calling him "Haole boy", a pejorative term some Hawaii residents use against white people. The exchange did not justify what followed. Basin escalated from words to a beach chair, then allegedly to a knife and claims of a firearm, turning a noise complaint into a scene that required police intervention and left him unconscious on the sand. Two felony arrests raise questions about fitness for office Basin's candidacy against Rep. Tokuda was already a longshot. Now it carries the weight of two separate felony arrest records in roughly three months, one for allegedly pulling a gun on government workers, the other for allegedly threatening beachgoers with a switchblade after being knocked out in a fight he started over loud music. Several questions remain unanswered. No law enforcement agency has been identified by name in connection with the beach arrest. The disposition of Basin's May charge is unknown. And Basin's own lawsuit claims against police, filed one day before his latest arrest, remain unverified beyond his Instagram post. What is verified: video of the altercation, a recovered 5-inch switchblade, two felony charges, $1 million bail, and a judge who thought a mental health assessment was warranted. Voters in Hawaii's 2nd District deserve candidates who can keep their composure on a public beach. Basin could not manage that much, and he wants to write laws for the rest of us. The post Hawaii Democratic candidate Kirill Basin arrested twice on felony threat charges after beach brawl, prior gun incident appeared first on American Almanac .