By Mabell, Dave on January 16, 2020.

Dave Mabell

Lethbridge Herald

dmabell@lethbridgeherald.com

Lethbridge police and health officials have responded to news of an assault on a prominent member of the city’s LGBTQ community.

Levi Cox, founder of the Catwalk Salon and Spa, reported he was brutally attacked in his home Sunday. When he escaped, he says he ran to a nearby fast-food restaurant where a police officer responded by taking him to hospital and began searching for the assailant.

“The arresting officers of the assailant were great,” he says in a social media post.

But Cox says some staff in Chinook Regional Hospital’s emergency room “gave me no care for over an hour.”

“I literally just survived a murder attempt,” but emergency staff failed him, Cox says.

“I feel like they assaulted me all over again.”

Lethbridge police report a 27-year-old man was arrested following the incident. He’s been charged with aggravated assault, assault with a weapon and uttering threats, officials say, and will appear in court on Jan. 31. No name was released.

Reflecting on his experience at the hospital, Cox said some personnel showed compassion.

“The X-ray and ultrasound technician and nurse who finally checked on me were amazing,” he says.

But although the attacker tried to strangle him, Cox says some other emergency staff “completely ignored me” and left him alone with nothing to calm him or treat the pain from injuries to his skull.

“I’m sorry (for) all victims who ever need the Lethbridge regional hospital,” he adds.

Advised of the situation, officials of Alberta Health Services (South Zone) say they take complaints like this seriously.

“(We) have reached out to Mr. Cox to speak with him about his experience at Chinook Regional Hospital,” a spokesperson says. “Every patient deserves to be treated with respect, compassion, dignity and fairness.”

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