Penticton couple on evening bicycle ride violently attacked
A leisurely late evening bike ride on a beautiful summer night turned into a violent nightmare for a Penticton couple.
Kieran and Kirsten Adams were riding their bicycles along Lakeshore Drive around 10 p.m. on the evening of July 12 when they were confronted and Kieran was eventually attacked by several strangers.
Kieran ended up being knocked unconscious when he was sucker-punched by one of the strangers and then was further attacked and stomped on, causing one of his legs to be broken in two different locations.
Penticton RCMP issued a news release this past weekend reaching out to the public to encourage witnesses to come forward should they have seen any part of an alleged assault.
The occurrence, which involved a male victim being allegedly assaulted by more than one person, occurred near the sidewalk at Lakeshore Drive West and Power Street, in Penticton.
There were several bystanders, including those with families, who may have witnessed all or part of the incident.
A group of 15 to 20 people were still on the beach, but they had placed most of their possessions, including strollers, wagons, beach chairs, umbrellas, towels, beach wear and other items used during a regular visit to the beach.
"We had been told that this group had been near this location for about five hours that day," said Kirsten. "We have other witnesses who had walked near the area where this large group were gathered around 7:30 p.m. and told us they had already started piling their stuff on the sidewalk abound that time."
"Around 9 p.m., a pregnant woman who was pushing her children in a stroller was going through there and noticed how the sidewalk was blocked off because of all the stuff they had placed there. That was around the first time we rode by on our bikes."
There wasn't nearly as many items at this time as there was the second time they drove by an hour later, she said.
"I guess they still had a lot of stuff laying on the beach," said Kieran. "There weren't any people there and we were able to slide our bikes through a narrow opening and continue our ride."
The group consisted of women, men and children, she said.
"We saw the group in advance and decided we weren't going to try and cycle through this group as it just wasn't possible," she said. "So we dismounted and started walking through. Most people would comment and say 'let me get all this stuff out of your way' sort of thing, but they didn't seem to have that awareness.
"We commented that it was really hard to get our bikes through as both our bikes have really wide handlebars and we didn't want to whack anybody with our bikes. We then asked again very nicely if they could move some of their stuff, so we could get through.
"Immediately, a few of them got very defensive and insisted their stuff wasn't in our way. Several in the group became instantly confrontational."
While there was no threats of violence at this point, several men decided to follow him on foot as he got back on his bike, said Kieran.
"They asked us to leave and we were trying, but they started following us. A lot of the 15 to 20 people weren't involved. I don't want to go out on a witch hunt or anything."
Three men, including one man "the size of an ox" who appeared to be about six-foot-four and in the range of 230 to 240 pounds, was "very hostile right from the beginning," he said. "My guess is they maybe had a few too many beers already, but you shouldn't react to a couple of strangers just because you're feeling good."
Because there was such a large group of people, Kieran said he tried to keep his head down and not look directly at anyone, while also trying to make sure his wife was not in danger.
"There were three guys being confrontational with me and my wife is behind me, so I was a little worried as they were closer to her than me," he said. "They didn't touch her and weren't being physically hostile, but it's my belief these three guys had been drinking pretty hard and were being belligerent and angry and hostile."
"I felt if we just left, they wouldn't do anything, so we tried to leave."
He set his bike down to try and get his wife from the crowd of strangers.
"Immediately, after I set my bike down, this big fella comes out of nowhere and I could smell the booze on his breath and he just started screaming in my face. He was the huge guy, built like an ox and six-three or six-four, He told me to get the "f" out of here now. I told him 'we are leaving and I don't want any trouble and I don't want to fight you',"
He appealed to other members in the large group to tell this man to calm down and let him and his wife leave, said Kieran.
"Several of them nodded and could see I had no intention of fighting this guy," he said. "He then shoved me and I told him right away that he had committed assault."
The large man sort of mocked him at this point and commented that getting in trouble by escalating the situation wasn't a smart move and he stepped away, said Kieran.
"The big guy blew me off, but spoke bad of me as he could have probably thrown me into the lake if he wanted to," he said. "He backed off, I thought this is awesome, he's leaving and hopefully things will settle down."
He went back towards his bike a few seconds later, placed his hands on the handlebars and he heard another commotion behind him with a woman from the group screaming at his wife.
"I took my hands off my bike's handlebars and lifted my hands into the air, sort of like when the police ask you to raise your hands, to show everyone I didn't turn my hands into fists and had open palms, and told the woman screaming at my wife to calm down and try and make it stop.
"When I yelled 'hey hey', I got hit in the jaw from behind from a guy in pink shorts."
The punch was from behind his back but landed so hard it knocked him unconscious and he fell to the ground and suffered severe road rash to most of his face, said Kieran.
"It knocked me out immediately," he said. "I fell to the ground. I don't know how long I was out. But when I got up, I realized my face was full of dirt and road rash. I also had road rash on several other smaller parts of my body."
When he was on the ground, several witnesses said he was kicked several times and one of his legs was stomped on, he said.
"I was told I was kicked in the back of the head at least once" and several other kicks to other parts of his body, said Kieran.
"At this point, my wife told me she could see that someone stomped on my leg," he said.
He tried to put his sandals back on and tried to stand back up to go get his wife out of the area, he said.
He didn't realize his leg had been broken at the time.
"I had never suffered a broken bone before," he said. "They broke the joint near the tibia and fibula. Somebody had stomped on my leg is what I was told by my wife and more than one witness."
At least three different men, perhaps a fourth, were involved in the physical assault against him, he said.
Members of the Penticton RCMP took a statement from he and his wife and other witnesses to the attack, he said.
"Police have been working incredibly hard, as have several witnesses from here in Penticton, which has been incredibly amazing," he said.
When he went to stand up after putting his sandals back on, he experienced "the worst pain I've ever experienced" and it wasn't until then he realized that he likely had suffered a broken leg, said Kieran.
"I told Kirsten I think my leg is broken and please ask someone to call me an ambulance," he said.
A couple of the men involved in the assault laughed and mocked him while he was back on the ground in agony, said Kieran.
"A lot of the group walked away laughing," she said.
The man in the pink shorts who sucker-punched him, started screaming and yelling at Kirsten after accusing her of yelling at his wife, she said.
"I think his wife is the lady who had been screaming in my face before he hit Kieran," she said. "At that point, he spun on me and got in my face and accused me of yelling at his wife. At one point, he gave me a pretty hard shove on my shoulder. At this point, he had a really deranged look in his eyes and I honestly thought he was going to beat the crap out of me.
"But a large group got in between me and him and shuffled him backwards away from me."
Neither Kieran or Kirsten had their cellphones with them as they didn't think they needed them as they were going for a bike ride, so they couldn't phone an ambulance.
Because she was "shell shocked" at what had happened to her and her husband, Kirsten said she doesn't remember all the details around this time, except that her first thought was to get to their nearby home, grab their truck and get her husband to hospital.
"I realized we weren't getting a lot of help, so I asked Kieran if I should get home and get the truck," she said. "I really didn't want to leave him, but we had to do something to get him some help."
Kieran told her he would be fine as the group had dispersed and their home isn't far away, so she drove her bike home and grabbed the truck.
Ironically, on her way home, she saw several of the large group involved in the dispute.
She didn't want to be recognized by the group or show them where she lived, so she took extra precautions to ensure they didn't notice her.
When she picked him up in the truck, Kieran wanted to go home first.
"I wasn't actually positive I had a broken leg as I had never experienced a broken bone before," he said. "I was starting to get really, really cold and all I wanted at that point was to take a warm shower. I was filthy dirty from hitting the ground and a bloody split lip. I have a beard and there was blood caked all over my beard."
Just after the shower, he realized he was going into shock and likely did have broken bones in his leg, said Kieran.
"I told my wife I think it's worse than a sprain and she felt I needed medical attention," he said. "I felt the hot water would make me feel better, but I started shaking uncontrollably."
The emergency room doctor knew immediately he had suffered serious injuries, much worse than he thought.
His leg was wrapped in a temporary cast as the swelling was too severe to put him in a regular cast.
They spent four hours in hospital, then returned the next day for another four hours to complete X-rays and he eventually had surgery on Wednesday, four days after the attack.
The couple visited the Penticton RCMP station to provide a detailed account of what happened before, during and after the assault.
Kirsten said she and her husband have experienced the gamut of emotions, from anger to frustration to confusion, still not understanding why a group of strangers would act out so violently over a simple thing like asking them politely to move their belongings from a sidewalk they were blocking.
The fact they were out for a nice bike ride when all hell broke loose is frustrating, said Kieran.
Kieran is going to be off work (forestry equipment manufacturer) for several weeks and as a young couple - he just turned 30 - this incident is going to hurt them financially.
"I honestly love my job and I would love to be there right now, but I can't until my leg heals up a little bit," he said.
Kieran and Kirsten are hoping the people responsible for the attack are caught and held accountable for resorting to violence when it was totally unnecessary.
While he doesn't foresee cycling down Lakeshore any time soon, Kieran said eventually he and his wife will likely change their mind.
"We don't want a group of strangers to determine our quality of life," he said. "I don't want to spend my life looking over my shoulder. I don't want these people to have any control over my life, but it's going to take a bit of work."
A woman from Kelowna, who read about their ordeal offered to start a GoFundMe campaign, with a goal of raising $5,000, to help them pay their bills while he's off work.
"She contacted us and was pretty adamant about going forward with a GoFundMe to help us out while I'm off work," he said. "I'm not a charity person. I love working for everything I've earned.
"But this very nice lady wants to go ahead and help us out and maybe cover our expenses for one month as I won't be able to work or collect a cheque for probably a month or so. That should get us on our toes again."
If anyone has any information relating to the attack on July 12, they’re encouraged to contact the Penticton RCMP, 250-492-4300. Anonymous tips can be forwarded to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
— This article was originally published by the Penticton Herald
