Nanaimo RCMP are searching for several suspects in a disturbing attack on a man experiencing homelessness in the city.
Police said a 45-year-old man was pushing a shopping cart along Victoria Avenue near 102nd Street around 9:30 p.m. Saturday when a black car stopped beside him.
The man and the occupants of the vehicle exchanged words before the driver allegedly accelerated and drove over the man.
Witnesses say a passenger then got out and pepper-sprayed the victim as he lay on the ground.
Neighbours say they heard a thud noise and discovered the seriously injured man.
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“I saw this fellow laying in the middle of the road,” resident Fred Van Gerven said.
“He was bleeding, bad cuts. He was talking, he was saying he’s in a lot of pain. He said, ‘They pepper-sprayed me’ and he kept going ‘Why, why, why?’
“I just tried to keep him still and comfortable because I was worried he would have a lot of broken bones and you could see some obvious big cuts on his legs. I just got a pillow, tried to keep him comfortable and wait for the ambulance and police to arrive.”
Pauline Roswell said she hadn’t seen anything like it in her 28 years in the neighbourhood.
“No one deserves to be treated like that,” she said. “We’re all human.”
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