A 43-year-old man has been charged with assault causing bodily harm in connection with an incident in which a man was allegedly punched in the head Mar 14.
Vancouver Police Department (VPD) Const Jana McGuinness says two men were standing at the corner of Bute and Robson Sts waiting for the light to change when Kevin Lee Mercredi allegedly punched one of them in the head and neck from behind. McGuiness says the man fell to ground, hitting his forehead on the sidewalk.
“[He] sustained a cut to his forehead and top of his head and then scraped his knuckles in the fall,” McGuiness says.
“The suspect then ran away,” she says, but one of the men detained him in the 1100 block of Robson.
“There was a struggle,” she says, adding that the suspect then ran off again and was seen running into a London Drugs store.
“[He] then left the store and went back down the north side of Robson towards Thurlow,” McGuiness says. “Police were already on the way by that point, and he was arrested at Georgia and Thurlow.”
When asked if the suspect said anything homophobic, McGuiness says she can’t reveal what statements were made at the time of the offence. But “derogatory language” was used, she says.
The VPD’s hate crime unit has reviewed the file and believes the offense was “motivated by hate, bias, or prejudice,” McGuiness says. “They’re requesting upon conviction that Crown make an application for sentencing considerations relating to that.”
Mercredi remains in custody pending an appearance in community court Mar 26.
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