EWA BEACH (KHON2) – A 63-year-old Ewa Beach man is recovering after his family said he was assaulted by people who were at his neighbor’s house, blowing off fireworks during a graduation party Sunday night.
“I was very scared for him,” said Coby Lynn’s son, Jim, who helped his father after allegedly being attacked by people who were at his neighbor’s house. “I’m very upset that somebody rearranged his face because they were blowing off explosives on a Sunday night, that changed our lives.”
The Lynn family said their dad, Coby, woke up to the sound of fireworks going off around 10:30 p.m. on Sunday.
Surveillance video showed him walking over to the house across the street as fireworks continued to pop. The family estimates there were about 50 people there.
Then he’s surrounded by a group of men.
“My dad went down hard into a car,” explained Jim as he showed KHON2 the surveillance footage. “And he hit the ground, and nobody helped him up, they let him stumble into the street where he could have been hit by a car.”
Coby made it back to the house.
“He was screaming bloody murder, he was gushing blood,” Jim said.
Coby’s wife called 911.
Before police arrived, a man was seen on surveillance walking onto the Lynn’s property.
The Lynn’s said it was their neighbor who said the attack was Coby’s fault because he kicked over one of their fireworks.
“I felt like it was racial and a hate thing,” said Eileen Lynn, who said the people at one of the neighbor’s houses were calling them racial names and kept calling Coby an ‘old man.’
Coby suffered extensive injuries and remains hospitalized.
His family said his surgeries require multiple specialists to fix the hole in his cheek and his throat.
“My husband didn’t deserve this, he’s helped our community so much,” said Eileen.
“They continued with their party and they were laughing and I could hear them saying ‘old man’ like they thought it was so funny to beat a man in the street, it’s pretty sick,” she added.
Coby has lived in Ewa Beach for 35 years. His family says he has been part of the Lions Club, does community clean-ups, and tries to keep his community safe.
Eileen said Coby didn’t want to press charges while he was being taken in the ambulance, but she has an attorney now.
“This would have never happened if they weren’t shooting off fireworks illegally in the middle of the road,” she said.
“Hearing what had happened is really disturbing to me,” said Sen. Kurt Fevella (R) Ewa Beach, Iroquois Point, Ewa Villages. “Why wasn’t the party shut down when there were people busting or popping off illegal fireworks?”
“I think it’s just disrespectful for somebody that’s been in the community so long, work hard to keep the community safe to be a victim because somebody wanted to have a party,” he added.
Fevella is visiting family on the neighboring islands and said he would have gone to the house to talk to the homeowners.
Fevella is a long-time friend of Coby.
KHON2 reached out to HPD and the neighbors but hasn’t received a response from HPD, and the neighbors, who had cars in their driveway, did not answer the doorbell.