Arrest made in July assault on senior

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This article was published 16/12/2022 (1037 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Five months after a Winnipeg senior was shoved into oncoming traffic, police have arrested a suspect.

On July 20, a 76-year-old woman was leaving a business on the 600 block of Sargent Avenue when a man pushed her into the street.

The woman fell to the ground and was seriously hurt. She had to be hospitalized for a period of time and is still dealing with a lasting injury, the Winnipeg Police Service said Friday, describing the attack as unprovoked.

A 30-year-old man was arrested Thursday evening in an apartment in the Central Park area. He’s charged with aggravated assault and is being held in custody.

It took extensive work through the summer and fall to identify a suspect, WPS spokesman Const. Jay Murray stated, acknowledging video surveillance from the area “played a critical role in helping us advance this investigation.”

The accused has two prior provincial court convictions for mischief to property, for which he was sentenced to one year of supervised probation in 2016.

He’s facing several mischief, theft and breach charges still before the court, as well as one charge of assault arising from an incident two days after the 76-year-old woman was injured. In late June, he was accused of uttering threats.

His case is next set for a court date Dec. 19.

The announcement of an arrest was the first time city police had released information about the July assault to the public. It wasn’t necessary to ask for the public’s help in this case, Murray stated in response to a Free Press inquiry.

“Every investigation is unique and can develop in different ways. On the surface, the act of soliciting help from the public may seem simple. But there are many complexities and legal considerations that go into the decision. For example, investigative tools such as a photo lineup or witness statements (that haven’t yet been taken) can be irreparably tainted. It can also cause a suspect to discard certain evidence, change their behaviour or go into hiding,” Murray wrote in an email.

“While I can’t get into specifics as to why we didn’t put out the suspect’s description or ask the public for tips, I can tell you that the investigation hadn’t gotten to the point where we felt that would be necessary.”

In November 2021, police did ask for witnesses to come forward after an unidentified male pushed a 16-year-old boy into the path of a semi-truck outside Sturgeon Heights Collegiate on Ness Avenue.

Charges were laid about three weeks later, against another 16-year-old boy.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca