'Look out for each other,' says Toronto woman after stranger stabs her with needle downtown
CBC
A Toronto woman is warning others to "look out for each other" after someone stabbed her in the back with a needle downtown.
Junlan Li, 29, told CBC Toronto on Monday it happened while she was doing something many people do daily in the city: she was waiting for the lights to change at the northwest corner of Yonge and College streets when someone randomly attacked her on Sunday at 3:15 p.m.
"I was on my way to the grocery store, just minding my own business, standing at the crosswalk, kind of just waiting for the light to turn. And then, as the traffic was going behind me, somebody bumps me on my lower right back," she said.
Li has reported the assault to police and posted about it on Reddit.
She said she looked at the person she thought was her attacker, who was behind her, but he seemed nondescript. Then a man coming from the other direction stopped her and said: "'This dude poked you. Are you okay? Like, did he take anything?'"
Li checked her wallet, pockets and coat and didn't see anything amiss. She thanked the man who informed her, whom she called a Good Samaritan, then went on her way. Halfway down the next block, she realized her back was hurting.
"It was just on fire. And then, I reached back around, felt on my back, and I realized I have like a pin prick on my lower back right where I was poked."
She said she turned right around and went to the nearest hospital, and after waiting about five hours in the emergency department, she was told that she has a puncture wound on her back and had a suspected needle stick.
The doctor did blood work and gave a list of things to do, including going to an infectious disease clinic, monitoring her symptoms and calling if the pain gets worse. She has an appointment at a clinic on Tuesday. In her Reddit post, which has generated more than 480 comments, she said may need to get a post-exposure prophylaxis to prevent HIV.
After an hour in the ER, she called the Toronto police non-emergency line. She waited to report the incident because she wanted to look after herself first. It took an hour and a half before she was able to talk to an officer.
Now, she would like other Toronto residents to be aware of what happened to her.
"It's something that you don't expect to happen ever, right? The fact that it happened was just kind of a weird moment for me," she said.
"I'm trained as a statistician and these things happen, right? Randomness. Random attacks happen and I don't want to freak anybody out, but at the same time, you know it doesn't hurt to be vigilant. Look out for each other."
Li is also urging everyone to make sure their tetanus and Hepatitis B shots are up to date. And she is grateful to the man who told her what happened.
Shopping local may be the desire, but affordability might decide where shoppers spend their money this Christmas season.
As classes across New Brunswick pause for the holidays, it’s not yet clear which schools are making a dent in chronic absenteeism — a stubborn post-pandemic trend that mostly afflicts the high school cohort, especially in the Anglophone West school district.
CBC Quebec has launched its Make the Season Kind campaign. It's our annual campaign that focuses on food insecurity, while also celebrating kindness, generosity and community spirit around the province.
Premier Wab Kinew says Manitoba will hold a public inquiry as soon as 2026 into the former Progressive Conservative government’s post-election efforts to approve an environmental licence for sand-mining company Sio Silica.
Premier Scott Moe has led the Saskatchewan Party through two straight elections, winning majority governments each time.
Eight weeks after adding a GM BrightDrop van to the fleet of his plumbing and heating business, Marty Salliss has no complaints, only praise.
Nearly half of Alberta’s Grade 6 students failed the provincewide math test in 2024, three years after the province started rolling out its new elementary school curriculum.
Toronto could get new cars on the road whose drivers will never get frustrated by gridlock — because the cars would be driving themselves.
Amidst a cost-of-living crisis, some London-area organizations say they have noticed a decline in donations this holiday season.
Prominent northern leaders have been touting the Arctic economic and security corridor as a "nation-building" project that will bring economic benefits to the two territories it straddles, but others are split on how much good will come out of it.
When the federal government tabled its 2025 budget last month, it included a proposal that tax fraud experts say is long overdue — if also a belated acknowledgement that the Canada Revenue Agency has been repeatedly duped into paying out untold millions in bogus tax refunds to scammers.
Talking with an AI chatbot can successfully convince people to change their votes and could affect the outcome of future elections, according to a new study.
While some are writing wishlists for Santa Claus, a group of Newfoundland and Labrador youth are writing their wishlist for the provincial government.