Police looking for bikers they say attacked 82-year-old man

BOSTON — Police say an 82-year-old Brookline man was driving his 1996 Buick Century around 7:30 p.m. on Thursday night when about 40 bike and ATV riders forced him onto the curb and began smashing his windows.

“I see them all the time going down the street doing wheelies,” said the man’s neighbor James Twomey. “Who would think these kids are going to beat up an old guy.”

He tried to get away, but police said the bikers followed him for about 2.7 miles from Park Drive through Storrow Drive, culminating at the Joe’s Kwik Market in Allston.

State Police released and image of the group they are looking for in the attack.

At one point, police say he got stuck in traffic and lowered his window down to ask the driver next to him to call 911. While his window was down, police say the bikers began punching him through the open window. Police say that’s when more riders came and began kicking and throwing pipes and rocks at the car.

“He just had heart surgery too, triple bypass,” Twomey said.

His daughter told Boston 25′s Bob Ward that her father is lucky to be alive.

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We asked former Police Chief Dan Linskey if anything can be done to stop this from happening, and, by phone, he said there needs to be enforcement and accountability and community help.

“Throwing bricks, these are all felonies,” Linskey said. “In Boston, we had some of these issues, and we engaged the community, got a tip line going. People were telling us where they were hanging out, where they were putting their bicycles. We did a joint operation with the state police where we actually had a helicopter up. We could follow them until they went to either somebody’s yard or a gas station, cut them off, and hold them accountable.”

Medics took the man to St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center where police say he remains hospitalized but is expected to survive. His neighbor spoke to him the next day.

“He was in good spirits, sore. It’s just crazy that something like that happened,” Twomey said.

Police are investigating what if anything motivated the attack and ask that anyone who witnessed this incident or parts of it give them a call.

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