City
Motorist vs. cyclist: the eternal struggle caught on tape
The unedited video is up at Citynews, and Spacing Wire is covering the incident too.
The Ursula Franklin students, who were at Queen and Bay on a field trip (ironically, one dedicated to examining the public security camera controversy) were handy with their video camera and recorded the entire incident. The kids turned their tape over to Toronto Police to be used as evidence in court. I suspect an "A" is headed their way, as well.
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The motorist will now have thousands in legal bills for his assault on the cyclist. This is good---maybe the next bully creep will think twice. (including tuff guy ryan-lol)
Would you stand idly by if someone didn't just say he was gonna pull that crap, but actually tried to? The cyclist had the gall to say he had no idea why the motorist would do such a thing. It's easy; he was provoked, plain as day.
Not saying it makes it right, though.
If I would have been the cyclist and the guy would have punched me, that car would have had some serious dents. I am actually surprised that the cyclist held back so much. In the end there was only 1 person that was violent and that was the driver. So if somebody should be called a moron, it is not the cyclist.
I would have tossed my bike on the hood too if buddy kicked my bike and freaked out like that. The only difference would have been my edge because of martial arts training - C'mon asshole motorists, try it. I know you have threatened it enough times. Everyone is a tough guy in their cars and they drive like assholes.
Gotta wonder now, though, if the video missed a little bit of the beginning. The cyclist already said he has no idea why the motorist went nuts on him, even though he tried to throw his bike at his hood/window. Maybe the motorist honked and yelled at him (as they are often apt to do) and the cyclist turned around and kicked the front of the car.
Not saying it's a given, but considering what I can take from the "full" video, and the lack of clear audio between the two guys, I'd say the motorist doesn't deserve more than an aggravated assault charge.
"Would you stand idly by if someone didn't just say he was gonna pull that crap, but actually tried to?"
you betcha---I try not to tangle with violent mf's. Then I would make sure he had enough legal, insurance and personal problems to last the rest of his life.
no kidding---I am vindictive but not stupid. I like my car, my bike AND my teeth.
The driver is unfit to drive.
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/sports/story.html?id=84bda22b-c3b8-4b7b-a8c4-5ff6a76d76bb
I don't think assaulting someone is a good response to them damaging your property after you were the person to start in with violence. You and the driver here both need help. He should have his license revoked.
The driver was so pissed off because he got caught at a red light, instead of zipping through the yellow light. So, because he was in SUCH A RUSH, he gets out of the car and starts a fight with the cyclist, who was simply following the rules of the road??
How does that make sense?
Even if the cyclist did threaten to chuck his bike on the hood of the car, the driver threw the first punch and started the violent action. He's a psycho. Plain and simple (in my mind).
Drivers need to get the EFF off their high horse and make room for us cyclists. Seeing shit like this scares me, and enrages me at the same time.
On a non-sarcastic note, seeing the cyclist's reaction to the initial assault leads me to believe he is not a violent person. He tried to get away and keep his distance. Not really fitting the description of someone with enough balls to throw their bike onto someone's car.
Its your problem if you are uncomfortable looking at someone with tight shorts, how the heck could you know the rider was a vegan, and shouldn't you be ashamed for wanting to punch someone's teeth out because of a few words?
"They've now made an arrest and the suspect is almost as surprising as the footage itself - he's a cop.
Constable Darius Tierman, a 21-year-veteran of the Toronto Force, has been on leave since October 2004. He turned himself in to 52 Division on Wednesday morning and made a brief court appearance at Old City Hall later in the afternoon."
http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_10838.aspx
You mean to say that bicycles are vehicles, not "motor vehicles." Most bicycles don't have motors :-)
But I second the comment. I have many times experienced cases where a motorist got extremely angry because I, on a bicycle, was blocking him or her when a another motorist in exactly the same position would have caused exactly the same delay and not have been treated in this way. Somehow many motorists in this city (indeed, in North America) feel that, despite their legal status, bicycles are not "legitimate" vehicles and so cyclists need not be afforded the same basic respect usually afforded to fellow motorists. It frankly makes me sick.
Maybe we shouldn't let males drive until they're 30 or have kids. Prejudiced? yup.
Why is this guy still a cop...It's Toronto, why ask.
Has he been collecting his salary while on leave...it's Toronto, so YES.
Will this guy still be a cop after his criminal conviction...it's Toronto, so Yes.
'Toronto, Where the Criminals Where Badges'
That doesn't, of course, merit a punch to the face and losing a tooth.
So a cop with "RAGE" issues assaults a cyclist who rightly stopped at a yellow light - what kind of sentence will he get? Hmmm... that drunk driving cop who hit a pedestrian back in December and fled the scene, lied about how he'd damaged his car, and only turned himself in when other cops were on to him, got house arrest and community service.
So - can we assume that that means this cop will get a pat on the back and a "well done!"
If it wasn't this cyclist, this creep would've just unleashed on someone else at some other point in time. Note to car owners/drivers....YOU DO NOT OWN THE ROAD. By attacking this cyclist, the driver is basically saying, how dare a guy on a bicycle get in MY way on MY time on MY road when he should know I am way more important than he is. After getting punched, I would'e loved to have seen the cyclist put this a-hole on his ass.
Car drivers should hope cyclists don't start packing guns.
There is no proof whatsoever the cyclist was going to "cause thousands of dollars of damage" - and even so, this line of arguement is so laughably ridiculous as an excuse for such incendiary violence I don't know whether to laugh or cry that some people honestly believe it, and the sad state of affairs it reveals society to have arrived at. There is no mention from the SEVERAL onlookers that he "kicked his car", threatened him first, or whatever crazy scenarios being conjured up here to justify this assclown's behaviour. Damn right I'd lift up my bike as a defense against some maniac charging towards me too.
How INCREDIBLY lucky this so called "officer" was that he happened upon one of the TINY HANDFUL of guys in this city that wouldn't have kicked the holy living shit out of him, and handed his ass back to him by putting him squarely in a hospital bed.
I commend this man, (who by the way looks big enough to have possibly done so) for following the rule of law, showing OTHERWORLDLY restraint, and his exemplary good nature even afterwards.
Considering what some of these people are up to, maybe our tax dollars should be used not so much for adding more cops to the force, but for getting more of the fucking crazy ones off of it. Not that that helped this guy from loosing a few teeth.
C.O.M. in the T dot O.
If you mistakingly moved in front of one of them in line at say a coffeeshop or restaurant...with which one do you think you'd have a better chance of it NOT turning into some kind of confrontation?
The cyclist who didn't even fight back, or an ex-cop who gets out of his car and starts wailin' on a cyclist, who doesn't fight back.
The public can at least be thankful this ex-cop has yet again exposed his aggressive nature and been caught so that maybe something can be done. Because if it wasn't this cyclist, it would've been someone else, somewhere else at some other time...basically, this poor cyclist took one for the team (and he handled himself quite well).
The ex-cop may be thankful that the cyclist wasn't a black-belt or carrying a knife or a gun.
We can also be thankful that this was caught on tape and this problem of 2 Wheels v. 4 Wheels can get more attention. We all have someplace to go, and we're all just tryin' to get there.