California family ‘totally overwhelmed’ after large fight at Kaanapali resort

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A California family says a vacation in West Maui turned traumatic after a large fight at a Kaanapali resort left several people injured, including one man who suffered a severe head wound that required 13 staples.

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The incident happened Friday night at the Kaanapali Alii resort.

Maui police said approximately 30 people were involved in a disturbance in the resort’s barbecue area, and at least six people suffered injuries serious enough to require medical treatment.

Police have arrested one person, a 20-year-old Makawao man, on suspicion of assault. The investigation remains ongoing.

Family members who spoke exclusively with Hawaii News Now said the violence began earlier in the evening near Whalers Village, where they allege a group of Maui youths began harassing visitors.

“There were three females, one of which was the ringleader,” said family member Joseph Headfield. “She got up in people’s faces, said, ‘We’re going to beat up your boys tonight. We’re going to beat up the haole boys.’”

Relatives said two teenagers later ran to a family asking for help, but the group allegedly followed them back to the resort and began attacking people.

Daniel, another family member who witnessed the incident, said he immediately moved children away from the area when tensions escalated.

“She got up and just started screaming, ‘They’re going to fight. They’re going to fight,’” he said. “As soon as I heard that, I got my son out of there. My wife followed me and a few others immediately got up and left the area.”

Despite those efforts, several members of the family were allegedly assaulted.

“So I immediately took them out of the patio area,” Daniel said. “By the time I came back, I saw one individual just getting beaten up on the ground, defenseless, by multiple people. And maybe 20, 30 seconds later, they were all running away.”

He said multiple family members were “slapped, punched, kicked” during the chaos.

One of the most seriously injured victims was a man whose family members said was trying to protect relatives when he was struck in the head with a chair.

“The kids were beating people with the chairs,” Headfield said.

Photos provided to Hawaii News Now show a large gash on the man’s head. Family members said he also suffered injuries to other parts of his body.

“The rest of his body took a beating too,” Daniel said.

Julie, another family member, said hearing what the alleged attackers said afterward was especially disturbing.

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“Particularly our cousin-in-law who got the 13 staples, they’re like, ‘Oh, we got the old man,’” she said. “So they were doing it intentionally. They were looking for trouble, did it on purpose, followed, picked out a group, I guess.”

The family believes the attack was racially motivated and should be investigated as a hate crime.

“Our group consisted of ages from 85 to 11,” Daniel said. “We were just not expecting any of this. We were on a private resort property, and we were just overwhelmed, completely, totally overwhelmed.”

Family members said none of the 30-plus relatives traveling together had experienced anything like it.

“None of us, none of the 30 people that were there, has had this happen before,” Daniel said. “Two of us were sent to the hospital and multiple others were treated at the scene by EMTs.”

The family said the incident has overshadowed what was supposed to be a memorable vacation.

“He was really badly hurt,” Julie said of the man who suffered the head injury. “He was told to stay out of the sun. Everything he came to Hawaii to do, he can’t do.”

“It just kind of overshadowed our whole trip,” she added. “We’re definitely still talking about it every day. It was pretty traumatic.”

Relatives also believe there may be cellphone recordings of the violence and are asking anyone with video to come forward.

They additionally questioned whether resort security and police responded appropriately.

Kaanapali Alii management declined to comment.

In a statement, Maui police said detectives have interviewed those involved and remain committed to conducting a thorough investigation.

Authorities are asking anyone who witnessed the incident or has video footage to contact the Maui Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division at (808) 244-6425.

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