89-year-old priest beaten with own cane outside church for no apparent reason

Fr. John Coleman survived the attack.

For no apparent reason, a man beat down an 89-year-old priest in the parking lot outside of his church. Earlier last week, Fr. John Coleman was assaulted by Juan Perez, 41, using his own cane in the parking lot of the St. Francis De Assisi Church in East Palo Alto. It is suspected the man was a methamphetamine user after hitting the priest without any reason.

MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - The elderly priest was walking with his metal cane in the parking lot that Monday night when Perez knocked him down. According to the prosecutors, he took the priest's cane and hit the elderly man with it until it broke.

However, it was later found that Perez and Fr. Coleman did not know each other and there were no clear apparent reasons for the assault against the priest.

"I thought I was a goner. All of a sudden this man appeared right there, and very aggressive, yelling, he grabbed me," said the priest. A bystander, Jose de la Torre saw the incident and went to the priest's rescue. He, too, was reportedly attacked by Perez, hitting him with the cane before running off.

Two brothers began running after the assaulter who then swung the cane at them, too, but the boys managed to control the situation until the arrival of police officers.

All the victims were treated at the scene after suffering from minor lacerations and bruises. Perez plead not guilty on Wednesday, with charges of four counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of elder abuse. He is still held with a bond of $175,000.

"I would rather have him go to treatment than incarceration. Get some psych help," said Fr. Coleman.

---

'Help Give every Student and Teacher FREE resources for a world-class Moral Catholic Education'

Copyright 2021 - Distributed by Catholic Online