‘Our family would be forever grateful’: public plea for info on Main Street assault

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This article was published 11/08/2023 (1125 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Cheryl Rondeau misses her brother Bradley Smith, and their 9 p.m. phone calls, which he always ended with a promise to chat the next day.

They haven’t had one of their daily talks since Smith, 58, was beaten with fists and wooden boards July 7 by a group of at least three suspects on the sidewalk outside the McLaren Hotel while having a cigarette.

A hotel clerk called 911 when they spotted Smith, who uses a walker as a mobility aid and had lived at the hotel (554 Main St.) for more than two years, being attacked.

“I’m not understanding how three able-bodied people could be that cruel, to go after a 58-year-old man in a walker,” Rondeau, 59, said in a tearful interview Friday.

“What could one man possibly do to three people that would warrant that kind of a beating, and on top of it, why would you beat him to that degree?… They chose to lay a beating on him that altered his life and his entire family’s life.”

Winnipeg police patrol officers were called to the scene and paramedics took Smith to hospital in critical condition.

He was conscious, despite a broken jaw, multiple shattered bones in his face and a bad concussion that left him swollen, bruised and blind in one eye, his sister said.

About three days after the attack, he suffered a “massive” heart attack in hospital, eventually resulting in a medically induced coma, said Rondeau.

He hasn’t woken up since, suffering multiple seizures while sedated.

Rondeau said doctors have told her Smith’s chances of recovery are slim, and if he were to wake up, his life would never be the same.

“He’s failing,” she said. “They’re not giving much hope.”

Smith was on a limited income with a disabled back and had a problem with alcohol. Rondeau was close with her brother, who she described as a kind-hearted man, despite his struggles, and a father to three and grandfather to five.

“He’d give the shirt off his back to anybody that needed anything,” she said. “He’s just a very nice man with a big heart.

“He would call me every day, and now, I don’t get those calls anymore.”

Smith knew the McLaren Hotel was not the best place to reside, Rondeau said, “but living on a fixed income, he didn’t really have an alternative place to go.”

Rondeau said Smith was not one to look for fights.

“He was a very peaceful man… He was a fragile old man, he made for an easy target,” his sister said, marking a public plea for anyone with information that could help police to come forward.

“The smallest thing could put the police on the right track to find the people that did this. Our family would be forever grateful to have these people off the street. If they did it to my brother, they’re going to do it to someone else.”

Rondeau said she wants the assailants to be held accountable.

“I would love to sit down in front of one of those people and show them the… photos I have of what’s happened to Brad over the last month, and say: ‘Look, this is what you did, do you see what you did, from your choices, you chose this.’”

The Winnipeg Police Service major crimes unit put out a public plea for information Thursday, saying detectives think numerous people were nearby at the time of the assault.

WPS spokeswoman Const. Dani McKinnon also implored for anyone, including regulars at the hotel bar or residents of the McLaren, with any memory of the attack or who knew Smith to call detectives at 204-986-6219 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 204-786-8477.

“Investigators need to speak to people now,” McKinnon said Friday, noting detectives have already pulled available surveillance footage from businesses and other sources.

“Police have no doubt that there were people there who witnessed the incident, and if they didn’t witness the actual attack, they observed the suspects flee… or have a vague outline of what they were wearing or what they look like.”

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca