Homeless man disfigured by knife attack while sleeping in Athens parkland

By Joe Johnson

A 63-year-old man was seriously injured when he was attacked with a knife in parkland on the eastside of Athens.

Oscar Lee Brock said he was attacked early the morning of May 23 when he was sleeping in the North Oconee River Greenway, near Willow and East Broad streets.

The homeless man told police that he was violently awakened by a man who repeatedly stabbed him about the head and face while saying that he was “owed a vendetta.”

Brock didn’t know his attacker, who he described only as a “dark” male wearing dark clothing who “looked like he was depressed,” police said.

While looking for help, the victim found a police officer near Willow and North Avenue.

The officer noted in a report that Brock was bleeding profusely from a stab wound near his eye and that his “whole body was covered in blood.”The victim’s forehead was “missing a large chunk of skin,” with another stab wound on top of his head, according to the report.

Brock had difficulty speaking from being in shock, the officer’s report noted, and he was transported by ambulance to the hospital.

Police asked for anyone with information concerning this incident to contact Detective Hovie Lister at 762-400-7333 or hovie.lister@accgov.com