Drug user charged with attacking guard

Incident at injection site

LETHBRIDGE A 29-year-old man is facing charges following an alleged assault on a security guard at a supervised drug-consumption site in southern Alberta.

Police in Lethbridge say they received a call early Tuesday that a client had flung a syringe with blood and other fluids into the guard’s face.

Officers determined the security guard had approached a man in the waiting area after seeing him begin to inject himself.

Drug use is only permitted in the official consumption area, so the guard told the man to stop.

Police say that’s when the man became agitated and shot the contents of the syringe into the security guard’s face.

The 22-year-old guard was treated in hospital and released, although he will require ongoing monitoring as a result of the exposure to the contents of the syringe.

Police arrested the suspect at the consumption site and seized the syringe.

Wade Allan Nicholas Cross Child is charged with aggravated assault, assault causing bodily harm and assault with a weapon.

He is to appear in court May 26.