A Boston family is urging a crackdown on dirt bikes and riders after an 83-year-old man was brutally attacked and beaten by a pack of 30 to 40 people. Richard Bell suffered serious injuries when his car was surrounded and assaulted by the group on Nov. 18. State police said they were riding off-road motorcycles and ATVs when they encountered him on Boylston Street near Fenway Park.”It was just a nightmare, “he said. “(One assailant) parked the bike, went between cars and came back with a pipe in his hand. He smashed my hood, smashed my windshield, and then started beating me.” Another assailant threw a large rock through one of the car windows. State police said Bell tried to get away from the group, but they pursued him. He finally got stuck at the top of the Cambridge Street off-ramp in Allston, where investigators said he was attacked by one of the riders after he put his window down while attempting to ask people in another car to call 911. Bell was able to drive away again, this time to a nearby gas station where state police said he got out of his car and fell to the ground. “I still don’t know how I survived,” he said. With the help of his daughters and family, Bell is improving. He is now calling for a crackdown on the aggressive bike and ATV groups. “Nobody is doing anything. I don’t see why you have to wait until somebody actually dies before they say, ‘OK, let’s do something about this now,’” he said. “They might think twice about hurting someone, running a red light causing the mayhem in the streets that they are because they’re lawless right now, no consequences for them,” daughter Christie Bell said. Dirt bikes and ATVs are required to be registered – but many are stolen. Boston police recently recovered a stash of stolen bikes in Roslindale. Bell’s car was totaled in the attack and his longtime mechanic gifted him a replacement vehicle.
A Boston family is urging a crackdown on dirt bikes and riders after an 83-year-old man was brutally attacked and beaten by a pack of 30 to 40 people.
Richard Bell suffered serious injuries when his car was surrounded and assaulted by the group on Nov. 18. State police said they were riding off-road motorcycles and ATVs when they encountered him on Boylston Street near Fenway Park.
“It was just a nightmare,” he said. “(One assailant) parked the bike, went between cars and came back with a pipe in his hand. He smashed my hood, smashed my windshield, and then started beating me.”
Another assailant threw a large rock through one of the car windows.
State police said Bell tried to get away from the group, but they pursued him. He finally got stuck at the top of the Cambridge Street off-ramp in Allston, where investigators said he was attacked by one of the riders after he put his window down while attempting to ask people in another car to call 911.
Bell was able to drive away again, this time to a nearby gas station where state police said he got out of his car and fell to the ground.
“I still don’t know how I survived,” he said.
With the help of his daughters and family, Bell is improving. He is now calling for a crackdown on the aggressive bike and ATV groups.
“Nobody is doing anything. I don’t see why you have to wait until somebody actually dies before they say, ‘OK, let’s do something about this now,’” he said.
“They might think twice about hurting someone, running a red light causing the mayhem in the streets that they are because they’re lawless right now, no consequences for them,” daughter Christie Bell said.
Dirt bikes and ATVs are required to be registered – but many are stolen. Boston police recently recovered a stash of stolen bikes in Roslindale.
Bell’s car was totaled in the attack and his longtime mechanic gifted him a replacement vehicle.
Comments are closed.