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Ontario Premier Doug Ford says the parents of two boys allegedly involved in the assault of a Hamilton cadet leader should “give your kids a little ass whooping in the wood shed.”
Ford’s comments at a news conference come a week after the Hamilton Police Service said it charged a 12-year-old boy and a 48-year-old woman with assaulting a 59-year-old commanding officer for the Royal Canadian Air Cadets.
The cadet leader was supervising the distribution of Remembrance Day poppies at the Centre on Barton mall when two boys approached them and blew a loud air in the ears of young cadets he was with, police said in a release. The man followed the boys into a nearby restaurant to confront them and “a struggle ensued.”
Police said a woman — who they later told CBC News is named Estela Quintanilla — jumped in to assist the boys and assaulted the cadet leader, causing him to fall. The 12-year-old hit him several times, police said.
The family of the cadet leader has identified him as Capt. Kenneth Kunkel. On Nov. 5, his daughter Kimberly Dietrich told CBC’s Hanomansing Live that Kunkel was unable to walk.
Dietrich said her family was “taking it a day at a time,” and her dad was “trying his hardest to recover.”
Capt. Kenneth Kunkel, commanding officer for the Royal Canadian Air Cadets, is suffering from life-altering injuries and is unable to walk for the foreseeable future after an alleged assault by a 12-year-old boy and a 48-year-old woman. Kunkel was helping young air cadets collect donations for poppies in Hamilton, Ont., just before the attack. His daughter, Kimberly Dietrich gives Hanomansing Live the latest.
The 12-year-old boy faces aggravated assault and assault level one charges, police said. The second boy was not arrested, police said, after officers were able to review footage of the incident.
The woman faces aggravated assault charges.
The charges have not been tested in court.
Ford has a history of commenting on criminal cases. Some lawyers have told CBC News that public officials should be careful about such comments, as they risk prejudicing juries and contributing to misinformation.
“I just don’t know how to process it,” Dietrich said of the incident Thursday. “I don’t know why someone would even think of doing something like that.”
She said it’s important to support veterans by wearing poppies.
Hamilton mayor-elect Keanin Loomis issued a statement about the incident Thursday, saying he is “deeply troubled” by it.
“My thoughts are with Kunkel, his family and the cadets during this difficult time. We wish him strength, healing and a full recovery,” Loomis said.
