Social advocates in Northland are shocked two teenagers appeared to find pushing an 80-year-old man off his electric bike amusing.

Two girls reportedly pushed the man from his bike on Lupton Ave, Regent, on Sunday shortly after 11am.

Police were called and are continuing to make enquiries into the reported assault.

A witness posted on social media, saying she was gobsmacked and disgusted to see kids behave disrespectfully toward their elders.

The woman, travelling in her powerchair, had been on the shared pathway between Kensington and Whangārei Girls’ High School when she saw the teens push the man from his bike into the rough beside the railway fence.

“There were a lot of those chunky railway rocks on the ground which did a lot of damage to the poor old man... I was livid, to say the least,” she wrote.

The woman reported seeing the teens laugh it off before fleeing.

“The man was pinned under his bike. I was unable to help him, being in my chair. But I managed to stop another man on his bike, and he pulled the bike up off the man.”

The woman said the elderly man looked shaken up and seemed to have some nasty injuries. Police confirmed the man did not suffer any serious injuries.

Social advocate and Whangārei Urban General Ward councillor, Carol Peters, was shocked by the incident.

“There is nothing funny about elder abuse.”

Peters said the community’s older residents needed to feel safe as their population continued to grow in Whangārei.

Carol Peters says young people need to learn and respect their elders. Photo/ Michael Cunningham

She worried about the future of those youth who felt harming seniors was fine.

“They should learn to care for not only the elders in their family but also those not related to them.”

Grey Power acting president David Marshall labelled the incident “unfortunate”.

“It’s important to know the difference between being mischievous and reckless. Also, to understand how much of it is actually deliberate versus doing it without any thought and the circumstances around it.”

Marshall said while they mostly advocate for elders who are taken advantage of by their families, any abuse against the elderly was wrong.

Northlanders with any information are asked to contact police via 105, quoting job number P058566257.

Avneesh Vincent is the crime and emergency services reporter at the Northern Advocate. He was previously at the Gisborne Herald as the arts and environment reporter and is passionate about covering stories that can make a difference. He joined NZME in July 2023.

This article was originally published on the NZ Herald here.