VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Police are investigating after another homeless man was attacked near Stanley Park this week.

The man was spotted bleeding and dazed by a West Vancouver Police officer doing a traffic stop early Thursday morning.

Vancouver Police Cst. Brian Montague says the man was sleeping when he was attacked.

Two other homeless men were assaulted on Beach Avenue in separate attacks in July and August, but Montague says the incidents are not linked.

“The circumstances are similar. Our major crime section has done a review of all the cases, but they haven’t linked them together, although they do all involve homeless men,” notes Montague.

The latest victim has a broken skull and some facial injuries.

Violence more common against homeless than stats reveal

Judy Graves with the City of Vancouver’s homeless outreach team says violence against the homeless is a sad fact of their lives, a problem that is under-reported.

“I think that homeless people don’t seek attention to themselves. They will tend to go off, if the injuries are serious enough, to get themselves treated at the hospital, and get released back into the street,” she notes.

She says this latest attack was particularly horrifying as it may have left the man with permanent injuries, and believes it was the kind of attack that could not have come from a fellow homeless person.

She points out the homeless live in constant fear, since they can’t lock themselves behind a door when they sleep.

That said, the underpass near Lost Lagoon, where the latest victim was beaten, is considered one of the better places for street people.

“Usually it’s a safe place for people to be. It’s out of the way, it’s quiet, and it’s close to the entrance of the park,” she says. “But there is no safety, and the stress of that is exhausting.”