Canadian Man On Life Support After Defending Young Boy

An Alberta, Canada, husband was left unconscious and on life support after a brutal beating that occurred when he tried to defend a 10-year-old boy who was getting bullied.

John St. Jean was playing a board game with his wife, Dawn MacKay, right up until he suddenly stood up and announced that he had to leave. St. Jean had reportedly arranged to purchase a ring for her and planned to meet the seller in the parking lot of a convenience store near their house. 

“I said ‘What are you talking about, it’s 9:15 at night. Come on, sit down, I’m going to kick your butt at Yahtzee and that’s all there is to it,” MacKay told CBC Edmonton.

The husband left at approximately 9:15, and did not answer any of the text messages that Dawn sent. She received a phone call at 11:30 from a police officer, who explained that St. Jean had been involved in an “altercation.” 

The officer asked MacKay for his medical history.

“Ask him yourself, and he’ll tell you. He knows his medical history,” MacKay told the officer. 

“And there was kind of dead air and she said ‘he’s in a coma,’” she recalled. 

According to CBC News Edmonton, St. Jean came across a man who appeared to be picking a fight with a young boy. At some point, MacKay was told, the man hurled a racial slur at the boy.

“John really doesn’t tolerate that kind of [thing],” she said. “Someone’s got to protect the underdog.”

St. Jean reportedly stepped in between the two individuals to break up the fight, giving the boy a chance to get away. As St. Jean walked away towards the store, he was attacked from behind.

“He just got him on the ground, got him on the ground. And he curb stomped him,” MacKay said.

St. Jean was rushed to University of Alberta hospital in Edmonton and placed on life support. Staff at the hospital attempted several times to wake him up, to no avail.

“He’s still fighting. He’s waking up halfway, and then fighting — like, flailing his arms,” MacKay said.  

“They tried again this morning to wake him, and it took three nurses and one nurse on top of him to hold him down,” she added. “I just want him to wake up. I just want to know that he’s still in there.”

CBC Edmonton noted that police were unable to confirm certain details from MacKay’s story. They say that when they arrived, there was no boy and it was unclear how the fight started or who started it.

A Facebook page was created titled “Grande Prairie supports John Stjean,” and was updated daily by St. Jean’s son, Dakota MacKay.

“They were gonna try and wake him up but now due to an unexpected blood infection they will not be trying to wake him up and will be waiting until the antibiotics are in his system and working before anymore attempts to wake him,” a post on the page stated. The family created a GoFundMe page that raised $10,007 out of the initial goal of $4,000.

Despite it being an ongoing investigation, 24-year-old Kyle Douglas Giroux was charged with aggravated assault and one count of failure to comply with a probation order. 

Sources: CBC News Edmonton, Edmonton Sun, Facebook, Gofundme / Photo credit: Facebook