A B.C. man is in a medically induced coma after he was viciously attacked on a beach in Penticton.
Bradley Eliason and friends were having a bonfire at Okanagan Lake Friday night when they saw adult men who appeared to be harassing a group of teens.
"One of them in particular stole the kid’s hat. He was also trying to rip off a young lady’s shirt," Chelsea Townend, Eliason’s wife, told CTV News.
Eliason and a friend intervened and that’s when Eliason was hit.
"This man punched Bradley in the face and knocked him out so hard that he hit his head and cracked his head on the pavement."
Mounties were called around 11:30 p.m. for reports of an altercation near the waterfront of Okanagan Lake on Lakeshore Drive. Officers and emergency health services "discovered one male in his late 20s suffering from a head injury that rendered him unconscious," the RCMP said in a news release.
He was taken to Penticton General Hospital, but ultimately transferred to Kelowna General Hospital to undergo brain surgery.
"We don't know how he's going to come out of this," Townend said.
She wasn't at the beach with her husband at the time, she had been at work, but when she got home interior health called to tell her Eliason was in the emergency room.
Townend says she felt "sheer panic and anxiety," when she got the call.
"I didn't know how severe his condition was. I was terrified. I just wanted to get to him."
The two have been married for two years and Townend describes her husband as “a very, very beautiful, kind person."
She told CTV News he’s the kind of man who would give the shirt off his back to someone who needed it.
Her brother, Chad Soper told CTV News, “he's part of the family and what's happened is absolutely tragic."
Thomas Kruger-Allen, 21, is facing charges including aggravated assault, sexual assault and two counts of common assault.
"This is an unfortunate event that has impacted many lives," said Staff Sgt. Bob Vatamaniuck in a release. Witnesses are asked to call Penticton RCMP 250-492-4300.
