Police are investigating a report of an assault on a homeless Edmontonian by guards at the Herb Jamieson Centre.
Stacey Loth was spending the night at the centre last Friday when he went to get a drink of water.
That’s when he said he was confronted by a pair of security guards.
“I was like ‘What’s going on?’ They said ‘You have to leave.’ I’m like ‘Ok, well can I grab my jacket and shoes? Can I grab my bag?’ They’re like ‘Nope.'”
Loth said the guards then started pushing him down the stairs towards the doors.
At one point, Loth said he got knocked to the ground.
“They kneeled on my back, they kneed me I don’t know how many times. Then they started punching me in the back of the head, both security guards.”
As they approached the exit, Loth said he was thrown towards the doors.
“My head hit the door before I could open it,” he said.
Once outside, he said he repeatedly asked for his clothes and bag. But instead of giving them to him, he alleged the guards came outside and wrestled with him again, throwing him into the street where he fell on the ice and scraped his arm.
Loth said he was left there, in the cold, wearing just a t-shirt, pants and single sock. He had no jacket, and no shoes.
“I had to literally find a box to put over my foot and a plastic bag to put over this foot, and I had to walk to the (George) Spady (Centre) to ask for help.”
He eventually used an emergency phone to report the incident to police, and said paramedics took him to the University of Alberta hospital for treatment and x-rays.
Judith Gale, leader of the Bear Clan Beaver Hills House Patrol, found Loth on the streets the next morning.
“I was infuriated. I was so mad because once again, here were are people, in the dead of winter and once again our brothers and sisters are being expelled,” she said.
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As an advocate for Edmonton’s less fortunate, Gale said she’s heard this story too many times.
“We have to take care of one another better than this. And the people that are there to help our brothers and sisters must help them, not throw them out in the dead of winter.”
Hope Mission, which runs the Herb Jamieson Centre, did not return multiple requests for an interview.
In a statement, a spokesperson wrote ” We are aware of this upsetting incident. It involved security guards hired from an external agency.”
“EPS was informed and they provided us with a report which we then shared with the agency and the guards involved are no longer permitted to work in our facilities.”
The statement on to say “This was a terrible situation that was very disheartening as we are here to provide care and a safe place for people in vulnerable circumstances.”
Hope Mission said there are times when a person needs to be removed from a facility for the safety of others there.
“In these circumstances, it is our goal to ensure that they are removed with as much dignity and safety as possible. They are of course given all their belongings and provided with adequate clothing for the weather if they lack any.”
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Hope Mission said normal procedures include calling EPS or other shelters in the case of extreme hot or cold weather.
Loth said none of that happened in his case.
“I’m homeless. Being treated like that, and being thrown out like that, I will never go back to another shelter again.”
That fear now leaves him with few other choices for warmth. He said he’ll be sleeping outside from now on, with a sleeping bag and some cardboard boxes.
Edmonton police continue to investigate.