They sure do use charged up language though

This is true, the title makes it sound like the assault was because the man was distributing poppies, but that is not confirmed. This other line in the article makes it sound like the poppies were not the inciting factor:

Police found him and the other boy later that day after reports of “a new, unrelated disturbance.”

However, this is still a very awful thing to do, regardless of whom they assaulted.

Without actually providing much details and facts.

It’s normal to not release that much information for recent incidents, especially when it involves children.

For reference, this is what the commenter is referring to. To me, it sounds like some stupid prank/tiktok thing that escalated. Since they have video of the attack, we should have more details later on:

The man, 59, is a commanding officer for the Royal Canadian Air Cadets and was supervising the distribution of Remembrance Day poppies on Sunday when two boys approached them and “blew a loud air horn directly into [the young cadets’] ears,” police said in a release on Monday.

They were outside a restaurant at The Centre on Barton, near Barton and Ottawa streets, at about 1:45 p.m. on Sunday. The man followed the boys into the restaurant “to confront them about their actions,” police said on Monday.

According to police, “a struggle ensued” and a woman who was not initially involved started assisting the boys and assaulted the victim, causing him to fall.

One of the boys hit the victim “several times,” police said, before leaving the scene. The woman also left before police arrived.

The 12-year-old boy was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and assault level one. Police found him and the other boy later that day after reports of “a new, unrelated disturbance.”

The second boy was not arrested, police say “as officers were able to see footage of the incident and determined his role/actions.”