HONOLULU -- Hawaii's top federal prosecutor said he has asked the FBI to investigate the beating of a soldier and his wife at a Waikele shopping center. The case has provoked a debate over how to prosecute crimes with racial overtones.

Iraq War veteran Staff Sgt. Andrew Dussell and his wife, Dawn, have asked for privacy after allegedly being beaten into unconsciousness by a father and son from Waianae. They are concerned about retaliation.

KITV spoke with Andrew Dussell's father who said his son does not consider himself the victim of a race crime. However, because one of the men accused of the beating used a racial slur there is pressure on prosecutors to charge the case as racially-motivated.

Witnesses said it began when the Dussells' sport utility vehicle bumped into Gerald Paakaula's Chevrolet.

A police affidavit said Alika Paakaula, 16, "was extremely angry that his vehicle was struck... He began to yell profanities at Andrew Dussell, calling him a *** haole and kicked the driver side door." Gerald Paakaula who had been inside an ice cream parlor intervened and both Dussells ended up unconscious.

Honolulu Prosecutor Peter Carlisle is hearing outrage over the incident. Some people are demanding that he treat it as a racially-motivated crime, but a University of Hawaii law professor said Hawaii's law is very specific.

"There has to be a specific intent to single out a person because of their identity: their racial identity," UH professor Jon Van Dyke said.

Van Dyke said that the law doesn't consider whether racism increased the level of violence.

"If you simply pummel the person a little harder that would not meet the terms of the statute," Van Dyke said.

Gerald Paakaula was charged with second-degree assault -- a five-year felony. His son was turned over to the family court.

U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo said he asked the FBI on Monday to gather facts to decide whether there may be federal jurisdiction.

Federal civil rights prosecutions like the Rodney King case usually focus on government or businesses not civilian individuals.

"When its simply one private person against another private person there is unlikely to be a federal law that would govern that," Van Dyke said.

The Dussells told Andrew Dussell's father that they are physically up and around and have resumed moving into a new home they just bought on Oahu. Their son, however, is afraid to go to shopping centers. Although there was some talk about a fund to help out the family, they want people to know they do not need help and would much rather go on with their lives without publicity and attention.