Family of 82-year-old man attacked by 40 dirtbike riders says he’s lucky to be alive

BOSTON — An 82-year-old Boston area man will be spending Thanksgiving in the hospital after a group of up to 40 people on dirt bikes attacked him in Boston.

“I’m just so saddened by what my dad is going through and disgusted by the people who did it,” the victim’s daughter said Wednesday.

“He’s grateful to be breathing and still ok, to be alive. But, he described it as a nightmare,” she added.

Mass State Police released the video as a police appeal for help identifying the bikers. The attack happened on Thursday, November 18.

According to State Police, the elderly man first encountered the group in the area of Park Drive and Boylston Street in Boston, where they forced him to the side of the road and started smashing his windows.

At a traffic light, the driver rolled down his window and asked another driver to call 911, and that’s when, State Police say, the bikers started physically attacking the man.

“He said it was something you would see out of a movie. There was someone smashing in windows and beating him at the same time. It was horrific,” the daughter said.

Eventually, the man got to a gas station on Cambridge Street where he collapsed, area surveillance show first responders arriving on the scene.

“That’s the hardest thing for us to wrap our head around, is that there are people out there that are just that violent, angry, careless,” the daughter said.

Friends and neighbors know the victim as a generous and kind man; they are left stunned.

“It doesn’t even look like him. That’s really sad,” Tina Diaz said.

A Boston 25 viewer sent us a video of a group of dirt bikers taking over an intersection in front of South Station, the same night as the attack on the 82-year-old man. Boston Police say, since May, they’ve confiscated 108 dirtbikes from the streets.

“They are unregistered vehicles that are causing havoc in the streets. And now that they are violent, they have to do something about it. It’s sad that it’s not safe for my father to drive to pick up a turkey,” the victim’s daughter said.

Boston 25 News is not identifying the victim or his family at the request of his daughter. She said the family is fearful the victim could be targeted again. The victim is still hospitalized with no broken bones, but with bruises and other contusions on his head and upper body.

The Massachusetts State Police is asking anyone with information, including people who may have cell phone videos of the attack, to give investigators a call.

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