A fight during a drinking party on a fishing boat on the night of July 31st led to two crew members being thrown in jail and the boat captain in the hospital with serious injuries.
Tito Mamea is held on bail of $35,000 and is charged with one count of second degree assault, three counts of third degree assault, and one count of public peace disturbance.
Arona Arona faces three charges: second degree assault, third degree assault and public peace disturbance. His bail is also set at $35,000.
Arona’s statement to police is that he was just dancing and having fun when the boat captain, Fano Pitolau Tofio, punched him on the mouth. This made his friend, the co-defendant, Mamea mad and they both started hitting the captain.
A son of the captain, whom police interviewed, said he was in his room when he heard banging and swearing from the front of the boat. He went to see the cause and saw his father, the captain on the floor, and the two defendants standing over him holding steel pipes.
The son said when Mamea saw him, he threw a steel pipe towards him. He quickly jumped off the boat into the sea and the pipe hit the wharf. He swam back to the wharf and alerted port securities about the fight.
Doctors at the LBJ Hospital said the boat captain sustained a 15cm laceration extending through all five layers of his scalp. A CT scan revealed a fracture on the left temporal and he was admitted in the ICU.
