A Honolulu police investigator credited a group of men with foiling a kidnapping Tuesday in Pearlridge in which a woman was slashed and stabbed.

"I think the only reason she's alive is because they stepped in to help her," Detective Alex Garcia said of the alert passersby — a newspaper delivery man, a motorist, a resident of a nearby apartment and a homeless person — who helped the 24-year-old woman after she had been forced into a car by her former boyfriend.

"They put a mattress and large tree trunk to block the car and the homeless guy pulled her out of the window," Garcia said.

Christopher James Lasser, 23, of a Moanalua Loop address, was charged yesterday with first- and second-degree assault, kidnapping and first-degree robbery. He was being held in lieu of $250,000 bail. His initial appearance is at District Court today.

In addition, Lasser was charged with kidnapping, abuse of a household member and assault for an incident in July involving the same woman, who escaped with an injured hand after being allegedly attacked with a hammer. Bail in that case is $50,000.

Lasser violated a temporary restraining order Tuesday when he came in contact with the woman, police say.

During the ordeal, the woman was slashed on the wrist after she turned off the car's ignition in an attempt to escape.

"It's deep, almost to the bone," Garcia said of the wound.

The woman also was stabbed in the lower back.

Lasser ran away, and police found him hiding under a car on Hekaha Street.

Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.