By Unprovoked attack on North Sea Lane by cyclist leaves elderly man unconscious
An elderly man has spoken out after he was subjected to an unprovoked attack on North Sea Lane on Tuesday afternoon.
Colin Saunders, 78, was walking his dog when he was verbally attacked and punched by a cyclist, injuring him and knocking him unconscious.
In an exclusive interview with Gi Media, Colin said: “I could see this chap in the distance coming along the path on a bicycle and I could see all the people having to walk round him. As he got closer to me I thought, ‘I’m going to get the same thing here, I’m going to have to walk round him’, so of course I’ve got my dog on the lead, my dog likes to go on the grass so I was going to pass on that side.
“So I stepped to the right, he stopped, and as I walked past him I said, ‘You do realise this is a public pathway?’ And he came out with such a torrential foul-mouthed abuse, I was just flabbergasted.
“He was still sat on his bike and he pushed himself past me. I turned around, and he’d got off his bike and he was coming towards me.
“I have a walking stick and I had that in one hand and my dog’s lead in the other one, and I was just sort of stuck there. He came towards me and he picked his bike up and he was going to throw his bike at me, and the whole time he was giving me this, effing and the C word and everything, just really foul-mouthed language.
“Then he put his bike down, and I thought he was going to kick me between my legs. He didn’t – he just landed with his fist between my nose and my chin, and I lost consciousness when he hit me.
“On North Sea Lane next to the pathway is a Hawthorn hedge. I fell onto that and I got really scratched, and when I woke up I was laid on the floor. I can’t remember how long I was there, maybe a maximum would be a minute I was unconscious, or maybe less, I don’t know.
“My dog was still with me and when I looked up I could see the cyclist in the distance riding on his bike. He’d just ridden off.”
Following the unprovoked attack, a woman and two gentlemen came to Colin’s assistance to help him up, before he called a taxi and went to A&E.
He continued: “I got home with really bad scratches on my arms from all the thorns and he’d split my lip and I had a swelling in my lip.
“I’m on Rivaroxaban, a blood thinner, which is the last thing you want if you’ve got any cerebral bleeding.”
Colin said the man who attacked him was in his early fifties, tall and of stocky build.
In response to the incident, Colin’s daughter took to Facebook to alert locals about what had happened, in a bid to see if anyone might have dashcam footage of the attack.
Colin said he is “OK as far as I know”, but still shaken up by the incident.
You can view the Facebook post by Colin’s daughter regarding the attack here.
