By DAVID SCHMEICHEL, STAFF REPORTER
September 6, 2005

Confronted again while at hospital

They say that cigarettes will kill you, but what about the people who panhandle a little too aggressively for free smokes?

They can be pretty dangerous too, as downtown resident Leonard Hogg found out over the weekend.

A Health Sciences Centre employee, Hogg had finished grocery shopping Saturday afternoon when he was accosted on the corner of Graham Avenue and Vaughan Street by a man who wanted a cigarette.

Hogg -- who deals with a constant stream of such requests every day -- said no.

"And I guess I was a little abrupt when I said no," said Hogg. "The next thing I knew he had backhanded me ... and knocked me to the ground."

While Hogg lay on the ground, his assailant kicked him twice in the back before fleeing east on Graham.

A crowd soon gathered to help get Hogg back on his feet, but no one was in much of a hurry to chase the attacker down, he said.

'CHOKE-HOLD'

"Everyone was concerned, but because this guy was so big, they didn't really do anything," he said. "I can't really say I blame them."

Later the same night, Hogg was awakened by a persistent pain in his ribs, so he went to Health Sciences Centre to have some X-rays taken.

Hogg was told it would be a while before he was seen, so he ducked outside onto McDermot Avenue for a quick smoke. Again, he was confronted by a man who demanded a cigarette, but this time, he was ready.

"He got right up in my face," Hogg said of the man. "I put a choke-hold on him and pushed him away, and he ended up slipping off the curb."

Hogg's would-be assailant took off, but not before he was caught on the hospital's surveillance tape.

The assailant was arrested when he returned to be treated for injuries he'd received in an earlier dispute at the McLaren Hotel, police Staff Sgt. Gord Friesen told The Sun.

A 52-year-old man is in police custody, and charges of robbery are pending, Friesen said.

Hogg still has a sore back and swollen lip, but said he's more worried about panhandlers who get too aggressive with younger kids or seniors. As for the possibility he'll give up smoking rather than run the risk of further incidents?

"It's on my to-do list," he joked.

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