Injured candidate thought he was going to die
A state House candidate was recovering Thursday after suffering a cut to the back of his head.
Ben Janloo was injured Wednesday afternoon while putting up a campaign sign at an intersection in northeast Oklahoma City.
A police report on the incident coded it as an aggravated assault.
He said Thursday he doesn't recall being hit.
“I went out and put the two poles in the ground. And I was trying to size the sign. That's all I remember,” he said. “Then I touched my face. I see blood all over my face. Then I knew I was in big trouble.
“I was kind of confused. ... I said, `Wow, I'm going to die!' It was that bad.”
He was examined at a hospital Wednesday night. “They told me I have a hard head. So that hard head helped me I guess to survive,” he said. “Nothing's going to stop me. I have a message for this community.”
The incident was on the northeast corner of Hefner Road and Kelley Avenue, according to the police report. The intersection is in a mostly undeveloped area. Wednesday night, a cow was grazing along a fence on the southwest corner.
Daughter Lisa Janloo went to the intersection Wednesday and spoke to police there.
“There's a metal rod out there. I don't know if they left it behind or what,” she told The Oklahoman on Wednesday.
“There's a lot of trucks and stuff passing by. And you can't hear no one if they're coming up from behind. ... It's easy for someone to jump out and go.”
Janloo, 67, of Oklahoma City, is running as a Republican in House District 97 against Rep. Jason Lowe, D-Oklahoma City.
Janloo ran unsuccessfully for Oklahoma County commissioner as a Democrat in 2018.