Warrant issued for man charged with punching elderly security guard
Kamloops Canada Sept 12 2020
A 33-year-old Surrey man arrested for allegedly sucker-punching a 71-year-old security guard did not show up for his day in court this week.
Matthew Santoro failed to attend the Kamloops Law Courts on Thursday (Sept. 10) — when he was expected to enter a guilty plea for striking Glen Warner in the face on July 2 ,when the guard asked him to move along from a non-smoking area in Riverside Park.
“The guy told him, ‘You’re an effin’ goof — what are you going to do about it, old man?’ and he punched him right in the face,” Warner’s son Jason, said at the time.
On Thursday, the Crown applied for a warrant for Santoro’s arrest that will be executed if he does not show up for court on Oct.1.
His lawyer, Marcel Laflamme, told KTW Santoro is homeless and was supposed to be residing at a shelter in Kamloops.
“I cannot find him,” Laflamme said.
The assault made headlines in Kamloops when Jason Warner reached out for information from the public after initially feeling let down by police. The elder Warner used his cellphone to snap a few photographs of the man who allegedly hit him before calling 911 and taking refuge in his truck.
“The first officer to respond, he basically told dad to drop it,” Warner said at the time.. “He said it’s going nowhere, the courts won’t do anything about it.”
Jason Warner said he phoned the Kamloops RCMP detachment and spoke to a staff sergeant, who assured him the matter would be taken seriously.
After tips poured in from the community via media stories, Kamloops Mounties reported on July 7 they had arrested Santoro — the same day Warner underwent surgery for a broken orbital bone he sustained in the attack.
Doctors placed a titanium plate beneath his right eye and told him he should have feeling back in his face within three to five months after nerve damage heals.
