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Winnipeg man viciously beaten defending homeless person at bus stop

Doug Thomas was attacked while attempting to defend a homeless man from an assault. Austin Siragusa / Global News

NOTE: This story contains graphic images. 

A Winnipeg woman says her husband is recovering after he defended a homeless man from two attackers Friday night.

Tracy Thomas wrote in a public Facebook post that she and her husband, Doug, went to grab some food early Saturday morning at A&W on Portage Avenue across from Polo Park.

While they were waiting for their food, they noticed two “young men” harassing a homeless man who was trying to sleep under a blanket in a bus shelter.

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“The young man all of a sudden, hit him then rolled him from bench where he was sleeping,” she wrote. “They both started kicking him on the ground.”

Tracy said she yelled and Doug ran to help the homeless man. That’s when the pair of attackers turned on him, she said.

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“…scariest moment of my life … seeing my husband being ruthlessly, intentionally and brutally hurt.”

“I just jumped out of the car and ran there because I wanted to intervene.” Said Doug Thomas. “He was getting hurt, I could see they weren’t stopping because they were just kicking him.”

Thomas suffered scratches on his eye and his tear duct was torn, but further testing showed that his eyeball was still intact.

Despite suffering serious injuries, he says wouldn’t change what he did.

“Even though I got hurt, I chose to step in, I chose to intervene, I didn’t want that man to be hurt. I would absolutely do it again.”

WPS Const. Rob Carver confirmed an adult male was “fairly seriously” assaulted at Portage Avenue and Tylehurst Street and taken to hospital. Police are investigating.

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