A daylight attack for pocket change in Cranbrook has left a man bruised and sore, but otherwise all right: His attacker, however, is still at large.
A man, who requested anonymity because the attacker is still at large, told the Townsman that his father-in-law, 74, was walking to the grocery store down 4th Street North at about 5:15 p.m., and was near Joseph Creek behind Save-On when a man approached him.
"He asked my father-in-law what his name was," the man said. "When he answered, the guy started beating him up."
The man said the attacker knocked his father-in-law to the ground, continued punching and kicking him, then started going through his father-in-law's pockets.
At that point a car stopped, the man said, and though the driver didn't get out, his father-in-law got the chance to flee.
"He ran to the nearest house and knocked on the door," the man said. "An elderly man answered, but didn't let him in."
But the attacker had come in pursuit, and continued the beating right on the steps of the house. The resident called the police, who were there within two minutes, the man said, but by that time the attacker had fled.
"It was a brutal attack," the man said. "And he got maybe a couple of bucks."
His father-in-law has a black eye and is feeling sore, but he got a description of his attacker Z— about six feet tall, a male caucasian, around 35 years of age. He was unshaven, with dark hair and wearing a dark jacket.
Anyone with information on this attack should call the RCMP at 250-489-3471.