09 March 2023 , 13:32
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A gang of teenage boys who hurled a shopping trolley down a supermarket escalator badly injuring an elderly pensioner are being hunted by police.
The man in his 80s was going up the escalator at the Asda supermarket on the Imperial Retail Park, in Gravesend, Kent when he was hit by the trolley on February 24.
He fell to the ground when the trolley crashed into him and suffered head injuries and cuts.
Police are now hunting the culprits and have issued an appeal for help from the public to trace them.
The man was heading to the first floor of the supermarket when the incident happened at between 6.20pm and 6.35pm.
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A spokesman for Kent Police said on Thursday: "Officers are appealing for witnesses following a report of an assault on a pensioner at a Gravesend supermarket.
"A man aged in his 80s was going up an escalator when it is alleged an empty shopping trolley was pushed from the top by some teenage boys, knocking him back to the ground floor. The victim suffered head injuries and cuts to his hands."
A description has been given of the group of teenagers who are thought to be aged between 12 and 16.
A police statement read: "The suspects are described as being aged between 12 and 16 years old. One had brown hair and was wearing a grey Puffa jacket, black tracksuit and black trainers. The other two had black hair and were respectively wearing an all black tracksuit and an all red tracksuit."
Police Sergeant Andrew Ferguson said that the victim of the attack was lucky not to suffer more severe injuries and that there were other shoppers at the store when the incident happened who may have seen the suspects.
He said: "The elderly victim is fortunate that he did not suffer more serious injuries and we have been trying to identify the teenage boys involved in this incident.
"There were other shoppers who will have seen what happened and we are appealing for witnesses, or anyone with information that may assist our inquiries, to call the appeal line."