The RCMP Serious Crimes Unit was called to an apartment building on Skaha Place shortly before 4 p.m. Wednesday after an altercation between two residents which left one of the individuals with knife wounds and contusions.
The cause of the fight was cigarettes, according to Sgt. Dellebuur of the Penticton RCMP, who said that the incident began when an intoxicated man started banging on the apartment door of the other in an attempt to bum a smoke.
The resident of the apartment was upset, and according to police was “tired of people pounding on his door.”
“The individual that answered the door had a metal bar and a knife,” said Dellebuur, reading from the officer report. “This male hits this guy looking for the cigarette with the metal bar and then takes a swipe at him with the knife.”
The incident was called in by another neighbour who opened her door to see what the commotion was and saw the perpetrator yielding what she first described as a crowbar.
The victim left the scene and was found by RCMP in Skaha Lake Park about an hour later. His injuries were described as not life-threatening, consisting of small lacerations on his legs and wrists and a small lump on his head, a large welt on the small of his back and a one-inch scrape on his lower abdomen.
“Scratches and scrapes from a combination of the bar and the knife,” Dellebuur said.
RCMP arrested Kevin Woods after being admitted to his apartment by his wife, where he was waiting on his balcony and arrested without incident.
Woods appeared in Penticton court Thursday, charged with assault, assault causing bodily harm and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose. His next appearance in July 27.