OWEN SOUND, ONT.–Just hours before he was savagely attacked by a pack of thugs here, a Toronto man had complained to police he was being harassed and accused of being a rapist.

When a 17-year-old girl later confronted him on a downtown street and made similar allegations, the man was attacked by as many as six youths and young men who stabbed him twice in the chest, once in the back, hit him with a piece of lumber and, according to a witness, "beat the crap out of him."

The 42-year-old Toronto man is black. His attackers are white.

But Deputy Chief Bill Sornberger of Owen Sound police said the Wednesday night attack wasn't racially motivated.

"He was absolutely innocent, simply in the wrong place at the wrong time," Sornberger told the Star. "He was a victim of mistaken identity."

The man, who lives in Etobicoke, has been working with the local hydro authority in recent weeks, staying in Owen Sound Sunday to Thursday, Sornberger said.

"He's just a decent guy up here to do a job and make a living," he said.

The victim has asked police to withhold his name. Owen Sound Mayor Ruth Lovell was on her way to visit him in hospital last night.

Hints in the local media yesterday that the attack might have been racially motivated spread through this Georgian Bay community like wildfire.

"It's embarrassing," said book-shop owner Bea Miller, on the eve of a weekend emancipation festival to mark the end of slavery. "We're the last stop on the Underground Railway. We're just a normal little tourist town, a hockey town. Every town wants a great reputation and we do. We don't want this kind of thing happening. But every town, small or large, has people who will cause problems."

Delia Burtwistle, 41, watched the attack about 11:30 p.m. from her apartment overlooking the downtown four corners at 2nd Ave. W. at 10th St. W.

"I saw about five guys beating on a black guy with a 2-by-4," she said. "They had him right up against a van, beating the crap right out of him."

Two of the attackers were also stabbed, one on the hand, another on the leg near his groin. Police arrested four youths, including the 17-year-old girl, who face charges ranging from assault to assault with a weapon.

Sornberger said the attack occurred as the man left a coffee shop where he had been accused of being a rapist just hours earlier.

"It upset him so much he called us," the deputy said. "He was quite upset and affronted by the whole thing. He asked if a rapist was at large in the community. We sent an officer down there to try and sort it out."

But the man was confronted again as he crossed the main intersection.

"It wasn't who he was, but he fit a description of a man," Sornberger said. "It wasn't `There's a black guy, let's go get him.' In the middle of the assault, he's on his cellphone trying to call us. He's innocent in all ways."

Witnesses told police the man was attacked before he fought back, punching the young woman and stabbing two of his assailants.

Sornberger has been deputy police chief in Owen Sound for about a year after 30 years on the Toronto force. He said residents are appalled by what happened.

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"It's a safe city of really decent, hard-working people who hate this stain on their community," he said.

As for a rapist on the loose in Owen Sound, he said there isn't one.

"We are not currently looking for a black male for rape or sexual assault," the deputy said. "He doesn't exist."