Defense attorney explains why rock was hurled at endangered monk seal
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The Hawaii attorney representing the monk seal harassment suspect is Myles Breiner. On Friday, he explained Igor Lytvynchuk’s side of the story.
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“There were two large turtles in the water. When he threw the rock, the intention was to scare the seal away. He had no idea, again, the significance of monk seals. He frankly didn’t know we had seals in Hawaii,” Breiner said.
Breiner said Lytvynchuk, 38, has previously dealt with sea lions as a fisherman in Washington, and knows how aggressive they can be. So when he and his wife were admiring turtles in the area, he wanted to scare the seal off.
“He assumed that when he saw the seal, the monk seal, pushing the turtles off of the rocks, that he was doing something good by scaring it away,” Breiner said.
When asked if he was apologetic at all, Breiner responded, “Oh, absolutely. He’s devastated at the notion that people thought he wanted to injure the seal.”
Regarding Lytvynchuk’s comments that he was “rich enough to pay the fines,” Breiner said his client is not a wealthy man, but was rather under pressure of the moment.
“It comes off sounding like he’s bragging or being arrogant. OK, and that was possibly in response to people yelling at him and he was embarrassed, so he doubled down,” Breiner said.
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After the May 5 video surfaced, Lytvynchuk was assaulted by another man. Breiner said they know who he is, but they will not be pressing charges.
“He was beaten pretty badly. There were no broken bones, but yeah, he had welts all over his back, his head, shoulders,” Breiner said.
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Other details about his client were shared, with Breiner saying Ukraine native is a naturalized U.S. citizen. He was ordered to surrender his passport following a federal court appearance in Seattle Thursday, and is exploring the idea of giving back by donating to wildlife protection efforts.
But how this will play out in court from here on out remains to be seen.
“He’s going to pay the price. We’re not going into court and saying no, he didn’t do this, but there’s always an explanation,” Breiner said.
Lytvnchuk is set to appear before a judge in federal court here in Honolulu on May 27.
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