A man from Surrey has now been charged after a senior security guard was sucker-punched in Riverside Park last week.

Thirty-three-year-old Matthew Santoro faces one charge of assault causing bodily harm, and will appear in Kamloops court on August 10.

Santoro has a brief criminal history; in the fall of 2018 in Surrey he pleaded guilty to six counts of theft of a motor vehicle, one count of dangerous driving of a motor vehicle and one count of possessing a break-in instrument.

The charge comes after 71-year-old security guard Glen Warner was punched in the face at Riverside Park. He required surgery to repair an orbital bone in his face, and is slowly regaining feeling in the right half of his face.

Warner had approached a man on a bike in Riverside Park, asking him to move along when he was disrupting a city worker. As Warner walked away, he says the man called him over, saying he was then punched in the face.

A retired federal corrections worker, Warner says he was disappointed in himself for not following his normal procedures and for misreading the situation.

Warner told media today that he plans to be back at work as soon as possible. He says he is not angry with his assailant, and says he hopes that person gets the help he needs.