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A beloved, longtime safety guard is again on patrol in Vancouver’s Chinatown where he was attacked on the job this previous summer.

But Harold Johnson’s valiant return to the streets is also bittersweet.

After three months nursing his injuries at house, Johnson went back to work final month and has since given his employer notice he can be leaving in mid-December.

“After all that he’s put up with since Aug. 12, I think it’s time to get out of Chinatown,” Harold’s wife, Brandy LaRocque Johnson, advised International News in an interview.

The Johnsons’ sense of security was shaken when Harold was assaulted by a stranger as he made his regular morning rounds on the Chinese language Cultural Centre close to East Pender and Columbia Streets.

“He could’ve died,” recalled Brandy, a local shopkeeper who rushed to be with him after the incident.

“(If) that man kicked him another time – that may have been it.”

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Harold, 64, continues to be reliving the trauma associated with the assault, which left him with a concussion and a broken nostril and cheekbone.

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“I’m nonetheless having the nightmares and complications,” Harold said. “When I get a headache, it’s nasty.”

Brandy said she’s fearful for her husband when he’s patrolling Chinatown alone, and so Harold decided to place his health and security first and stop months forward of his planned retirement subsequent yr.

“He wished very much to fulfil another year and he can’t do this now, it’s too harmful,” Brandy said.

Harold has bonded and built a rapport with enterprise owners throughout his two decades as the “eyes” of Chinatown, and merchants say he will probably be sorely missed.

Learn more: Community rallies behind beloved security guard attacked in Vancouver’s Chinatown

“Harold’s been around without end. He knows everybody around here and everyone knows him,” pharmacist and 警備員 バイト Corning Drugs Chinatown proprietor David Wong told World Information.