New Felony Charges Filed Against Marine Who Beat Cab Driver

(WITN) The cab driver assaulted this weekend by one of his passengers was scheduled for surgery in Raleigh Thursday, while new charges are being filed against the suspect.

Gunnery Sgt. John Kinosh is still not in custody for the Sunday assault; he’s reportedly in a behavioral hospital. District Attorney Ernie Lee says, after reviewing the tape of the beating, a felony charge of assault inflicting serious bodily injury has been added to the list of charges against Kinosh, according to the Jacksonville Daily News.

Police had earlier filed misdemeanor charges of assault and communicating threats.

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Marine Corps officials released a statement about a Camp Lejeune
marine’s attack on a Surf City cab driver this weekend leaving the cabbie with serious injuries to his face and the marine facing a felony assault charge.

“We are aware of the circumstances surrounding the incident involving one of our gunnery sergeants, and we are fully cooperating with local officials to get to the bottom of this matter quickly and efficiently,” said Col. James Glynn, commanding officer of Marine Special Operations School, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command, headquartered at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
“Our thoughts go out to the cab driver and his family and we hope he has a speedy recovery.”

The release sent by USMC MARSOC Public Affairs Chief Staff Sgt. Robert Storm went on to say, “We cannot discuss circumstances regarding this incident or the alleged charges until a complete investigation has been conducted by the Surf City police department. We will certainly assist the police in this effort, but it would not be prudent to discuss details of this incident until formal charges have been preferred.”

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A cab driver attacked by a Camp Lejeune Marine is speaking out after suffering several facial fractures during the assault captured on security camera.

Charles Hawkesworth Junior spoke to our sister station WECT afternoon about the attack and response from the community.

Hawkesworth said he knew things were turning bad when the passenger, Gunnery Sgt. John Kinosh, started yelling at him. Hawkesworth said he was following directions from his dispatcher to pick up another fare on his way to Holly Ridge.

Hawkesworth said, “At first I thought the gentleman was pretty rude because when I called in and told the dispatch that we were going to Sneads Ferry he started arguing with me that it was in Holly Ridge, but like I do with almost anybody that gets in my cab, I tried to be familiar with him and try and develop a rapport.”

Hawkesworth says Kinosh got pretty upset when he was telling me he was in Holly Ridge not Sneads Ferry. “When he asked me to pull over and said he wanted to get out. I was really just hoping he would get out, but it didn’t end up that way.”

When Kinosh started throwing punches, Hawkesworth says, “The only thing on my mind was just to defend my self. In the back of my mind throughout the whole thing I remember hearing a dispatcher calling in and trying to find out what was going on because I hadn’t called in in a while.”

Hawkesworth says he is pretty heavily medicated and is going to Raleigh Thursday for surgery. He says, “I have several facial fractures and it’s from my sinuses to my eye socket to my cheek bones; it’s a triangular area that has been broken off from the rest of my skull and they need to do reconstructive surgery and reattach that piece of my skull with 3 or 4 steel plates.”

Despite what he’s been through, Hawkesworth says he would like to continue to be a cab driver if they can find a way to keep him safe.

As for Kinosh, Hawkesworth says he thinks he needs help and should be charged with felonies, not misdemeanors.

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Friends of Charles Hawkesworth Jr. are working to raise money for his medical bills following a brutal assault in his cab Sunday in Onslow County.

One fundraising website is gogetfunding.com/project/help-charles.

There is also a Facebook page called Help Charles Hawkesworth, Our Surf City Cabby.

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The girlfriend of a cab driver is speaking out after he was brutally attacked in his taxi in Onslow County this weekend and it was all caught on video.

Police say a Camp Lejeune gunnery sergeant is wanted for the attack captured on the dash cam. Surf City Police Chief Mike Halstead tells WITN News warrants have been obtained against 30-year-old John Kinosh. Island taxi owner Rex Bowen says the attack on his employee Charles Hawkesworth Jr. happened just after 1:00 a.m. Sunday. Hawkesworth has been released from the hospital with five fractures in his face according to his girlfriend.

“We are a town that services the marines and we expect them to protect us as their citizens and just the way he talked to him, not only being a marine, as a human being I think is absolutely unacceptable,” said Brittany Schwartz.

Kinosh will be charged with two counts of assault inflicting serious injury and one count of communicating threats. Police say he checked himself into the psychiatric unit of a Wilmington behavioral hospital so they cannot yet serve the warrants.

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A Camp Lejeune gunnery sergeant is wanted for this weekend’s brutal attack of a cab driver that was all caught on camera.

Surf City Police Chief Mike Halstead tells WITN News that warrants have been obtained against Gunnery Sgt. John Kinosh.

Island Taxi owner Rex Bowen says it happened just after 1 o’clock Sunday morning. The video was posted on Facebook Sunday afternoon.

The video shows a passenger start to attack cab driver Charles Hawkesworth Jr.

Bowen says Hawkesworth has been released from the hospital and has five fractures in his face. The victim is scheduled to see a specialist today.

Kinosh will be charged with two counts of assault inflicting serious injury and one count of communicating threat after police say the Marine threatened to kill the cabbie. Police say the Marine immediately checked himself into the psychiatric unit of a Wilmington behavioral hospital so they cannot yet serve the warrants.

Police say the 30-year-old Kinosh is assigned to Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command at Stone Bay.

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