POHOA — At about 1:30 a.m. most mornings, Pahoa Village Road is empty and quiet.
POHOA — At about 1:30 a.m. most mornings, Pahoa Village Road is empty and quiet.
That wasn’t the case on June 7 when John Hartley, a 57-year-old homeless man well known to most Pahoans, was victim of a unprovoked attack which he says rendered him in pain and unable to see for days.
It happened as Hartley was slumped in his wheelchair, dozing in front of the Pahoa Village Museum with his Labrador-mix, Bonnie, sleeping at his feet.
Suddenly, Hartley said he was roused by a bucket of ice-filled water splashed directly in his face. He jolted awake — and was immediately hit with two blasts of mace spray which he said left his eyes stinging and blinded for several days.
“Believe me, that hurt,” Hartley said on Monday as he recounted the incident. “That was the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life, and I’ve broken every bone there is to break.”
Soon after the mace, Hartley was punched in the head multiple times.
“I don’t remember (the punches),” he said. “I was in too much pain from the bear mace.”
Hartley said he’s lived in Pahoa nearly 20 years. He refers to himself as “house-less” rather than homeless — he considers Pahoa his home. He relies on a wheelchair, because about two years ago, part of his right leg was amputated.
Shortly after the attack, with no phone or way to seek help, he said he sat in pain, waiting.
“I tried to go sleep,” he said. “But I couldn’t sleep. My face burned, and it just sucked. I just cried all night long.”
National statistics show homeless people are often targets for hate crimes and violence. The National Coalition for Homeless says that teenage “thrill seekers” are common perpetrators of violence against homeless — 72 percent of hate crimes against homeless people in 2010 were committed by attackers under age 30.
Hartley’s attack was caught on surveillance video, though footage does not show who the attacker was. Hartley said he recognized the person as the manager of a Pahoa business. The Tribune-Herald attempted to call the accused attacker but was told that person was unavailable. As of Monday, police said the incident was under investigation and no one had been charged.
Multiple residents on Monday said the accused attacker is also responsible for similar attacks in recent months against other homeless people in town.
Residents said violence against homeless people in Pahoa is generally out of the ordinary, though the town has struggled in recent years to manage its growing number of unsheltered residents.
Information from the state Department of Human Services shows the number of unsheltered individuals in Pahoa increased from 8.1 percent in 2013 to 15.2 percent a year later. The problem has spurred complaints from some business owners, who’ve called the homeless — particularly those who loiter out front their storefronts — a nuisance.
Museum volunteer director Sarah Williams, who said she once felt the same, began organizing breakfast meetings earlier this year for homeless people, law enforcement, business owners and community members to brainstorm solutions to the problem.
Williams said Monday the breakfasts have spurred dialogue and even change. Since that most recent meeting in March, at least four formerly homeless individuals now have housing, she said.
Hartley’s attack, which Williams helped document into a police report, has united Pahoans who want to help him seek justice, she said.
Multiple posts on Facebook berate the alleged attacker, and Williams said the incident has spurred Pahoa business owners — who once expressed frustration at local homeless people — to stand behind Hartley. Last week, an anonymous community member even donated money for Hartley to be fitted with a prosthetic leg.
“It’s really upsetting to the community,” Williams said. “And I thank God it’s so upsetting to them. I’ve been so impressed by the community dynamics, people wanting to have aloha and work together. It’s just one really violent hater in the mix that’s totally unsettling.”
Hartley said he’s also mulling litigation. He recently met with Pahoa attorney Ivan Van Leer, who told the Tribune-Herald that if a lawsuit is filed, he’d help Hartley, and whoever else has been victimized by the attacker, seek monetary damages.
“The behavior of the believed-to-be individual who did this is really outrageous,” Van Leer said. “There are homeless people all over who just want to get by and live, and they’ve got enough adversity in their life as there is.”
Mostly, Hartley said, he wants to see his attacker face the consequences of his actions. He said he’s still afraid to touch his face — doing so days after the attack remains painful.
“I’m just angry,” he said. “Very angry. I’ve never been assaulted like this in my entire life.”