Four “cowards” who attacked an 82-year-old man who happens to be the long-time president of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch No. 40 and a proud military veteran, remain free and have not been charged following a disgusting act on Main Street just outside the main branch of the Penticton Public Library late Friday.
Jim DeMarce, 82, was driving his scooter home from the Legion’s karaoke night around 11:30 p.m., when four strange men approached him.
“They weren’t kids, I would say all four of them were in their 40s and they were all obviously street people,” he said. “I asked to get by them and they said they would move their carts, so I can get by, if I gave them all my money and my cigarettes. I said ‘no… that ain’t happening.’
“Then they knocked me off my scooter and they gang tackled me.” As of late Sunday afternoon, DeMarce was sporting a large, quarter-sized purple bruise just over his right eye.
“One guy hit me with something. It knocked me off the scooter and then they proceeded to put the boots to me.”
The incident only lasted one or two minutes, but it “seems like an eternity” when four grown men are throwing punches and kicks at you, he said. Fortunately, the incident didn’t cause any more physical injuries. They also left without taking his cigarettes or any cash.
DeMarce said he didn’t recognize any of the four men who attacked him. The one lead he has is a red broom that was sticking out of one of the shopping carts.
“You see so many street people, nowadays” he said. “To me, so many of them look exactly the same. They were all scruffy, not well dressed, all four of these guys had unkempt beards and long hair.
“Once I got up and got back on my scooter, I just decided to go home. He lives near the local RCMP detachment. DeMarce said he has “all the faith in the world in Penticton RCMP as they have very difficult jobs, often dealing with prolific offenders who are continually arrested, released and then break their bail conditions and commit more crimes.’
“The police do their job. I don’t dispute that,” he said.
He has worked with many police officers in Penticton as a long-time community volunteer over the past several decades and always had a cordial, friendly relationship.
The Canadian justice system, on the other hand, is broken and needs to be fixed, he said.
“What really pisses me off is these people get arrested, they get fingerprinted, they get mugshots. They end up in the courtroom and the judge gives them a slap on the wrist and says you’re free to go. It happens all the time. The judiciary, not only here in Penticton, but all across Canada, sucks.
If a judge was assaulted like he at his tender years, “I have no doubt whatsoever, they would be going to jail for a very long time. It’s a hell of a thing to say, but that’s honestly how I feel.”
DeMarce said he has lived almost 82 years peacefully and had never been assaulted. Having four men half his age attack him is truly upsetting, he said. During his six years in the Canadian military as a paratrooper in his early 40s out of Edmonton, DeMarce said things would have definitely turned out different than they did Friday night.
“I’m 82 years old,” he said. “I’m not as fast, or strong or agile as I used to be,” he said. While he still hasn’t officially filed a police report, DeMarce said a large group of friends, including dozens of members from the Legion, are encouraging him to do so early this week.
“I gotta go and file a report,” he said. “A lot of my good friends insist I go to the police, so I’m going to. I gotta go.”
This originally appeared in the Penticton Herald and is shared via the Local Journalism Initiative.
