B.C. crime news: Man wanted countrywide for failure to return to Vancouver halfway house | Stranger assault leaves elderly woman in hospital

Police are searching for a man after an elderly woman was knocked to the ground on Thanksgiving Day by a stranger.

Investigators said the 77-year-old woman was walking near Cambie Street and West Broadway around 6:30 p.m. when she was “intentionally shouldered and knocked to the ground” by a man walking in the opposition direction.

The man then kept walking eastbound on the north side of Broadway and did not stop to help the senior.

A passerby who witnessed the incident stayed with the woman until police arrived. The woman was left with a cut to her head and taken to hospital for treatment.

Police are now asking the public to help identify the man. The individual is described as a Black man with an athletic build, between 20 to 30 years of age. He was wearing navy blue pants and a navy blue jacket with the hood up at the time of the incident. He also had dark coloured headphones.

Anyone who may have seen the incident or may have recorded it on dashboard camera, surveillance footage or a cellphone camera is asked to contact Vancouver Police.

A man who failed to report to his halfway house is now wanted countrywide.

Phoenix Wayne Opwam, 31, was living at a Vancouver halfway house as part of his sentence for robbery and sex assault. He did not return to the house as required.

Police have now issued a countrywide notice about his disappearance.

Opwam is about 5-feet-11 and weighs 165 pounds. He has short dark hair, brown eyes and a number of distinctive facial tattoos, including a Louis Vuitton logo on his right cheek, the words “young savage” on his left cheek, and a Gucci logo on his forehead, along with other neck tattoos.

Anyone who spots him is asked to call 911 immediately.

sip@postmedia.com