‘Appalling’: Penticton veteran, 82, swarmed and beaten on scooter ride home

Jim DeMarce endured his adjacent stock of punches decades agone erstwhile he utilized to container successful nan Army, but astatine 82  years old, he thought those days were agelong down him.

Unfortunately, he was mistaken.

Now covered from caput to toed successful bruises, nan Penticton Branch 40 Legion president precocious suffered an onslaught by 4 men he didn’t guidelines a fighting chance against, and he believes it to beryllium a sad motion of nan times.

“I was connected my measurement location from nan legion, up by nan library, and location were 4 gentlemen … sitting astir nan fountain, and their shopping carts were blocking nan sidewalk and I couldn’t get by (on my scooter),” DeMarce said.

“I asked very nicely, ‘Would you gentlemen please move your shopping carts truthful I tin spell by?'”

DeMarce said 1 man sewage up and said they’d move retired of his way, truthful agelong arsenic he passed complete his money and cigarettes. That’s erstwhile events took a move for nan worse.

“I said, ‘That’s not going to happen,’ and nan adjacent point I knew I was connected nan ground. He smoked me. He deed me. Sucker punched maine … past each of them jumped in, each of them, and they were kicking and punching, and I took a beating,” DeMarce said.

The suspects, he said, are mostly unrecognizable — each men, perchance successful their 40s, bearded and seemingly surviving connected nan street. He mostly remembers 1 had a reddish broom.

When nan onslaught was done, DeMarce managed to get up and spell location and to bed. When his girl saw a way of humor successful nan location they shared nan adjacent day, she took him to nan emergency room. He has a batch of bruises, but nary surgery bones. Ultimately, he was sent location pinch immoderate Tylenol and told to rest.

He said he’s fared beautiful good considering, but he’s not judge others successful his position would do arsenic well.

“Just beryllium other cautious erstwhile you’re out,” he said.

“You know, telephone a friend if you want to spell for a locomotion aliases thing astatine 11:30 p.m. Just don’t beryllium by yourself. It isn’t worthy it. It’s a sad point to say, but it’s nan truth.”

DeMarce has yet to study nan incident to constabulary because he doesn’t judge thing would travel of it. Like a increasing number of British Columbians, he says there’s a catch-and-release strategy successful place, wherever group who perpetrate crimes are arrested, and simply released backmost into nan organization to transportation connected successful nan aforesaid way.

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Penticton Coun. Amelia Boultbee is encouraging him to return different tack.

“It is thing that has travel to our attraction successful speaking to Mr. DeMarce and speaking to different people, is that immoderate group are not reporting convulsive crimes to nan police,” Boultbee said.

“While I understand their vexation and we request criminal justness reform, we perfectly request group to travel forward, record a report, let nan constabulary to behaviour an investigation.”

Simply put, Boultbee said if there’s nary study made to police,  nary changes will beryllium made.

“If we don’t person meticulous data,  thing tin improve. So if you’ve been nan unfortunate of a convulsive crime, please travel forward,” she said.

In nan meantime, however, she’s focused connected supporting DeMarce done what is thing little than a “shocking crime.”

“To understand that a group of 4 individuals swarmed an 82-year-old man who’s besides a seasoned … it’s a peculiarly appalling crime,” Boultbee said.

Her chap metropolis councillor James Miller agrees.

He said that DeMarce is simply a “salt-of-the-earth feline wholly dedicated to veterans causes” and nan symptom inflicted connected him was obscene.

“Jim DeMarce is 1 of nan toughest men I know, but that perfectly shouldn’t person happened,” Miller said.

Miller said crimes of this benignant should ne'er hap again.

“Our crime numbers do look favourable successful a batch of ways, but if group aren’t reporting them, it’s not added to nan statistics,” Miller said.

“I would dream that Mr. DeMarce would reconsider (reporting), because he’s knowledgeable a convulsive assault. What’s to extremity nan perpetrators from doing it again to possibly personification who isn’t arsenic physically reliable aliases arsenic successful bully style arsenic he is?”