Police have launched an investigation into a caught-on camera assault committed by a seemingly irate cyclist in downtown Toronto.
A 21-second video, which partially captures the incident, was posted to Reddit on Thursday night.
It shows the cyclist standing behind a man in the intersection of York Street and Bremner Boulevard when he grabs his collar and tackles him to the ground. The video then shows the cyclist getting back onto his bike and leaving the scene.
Speaking with CTV News Toronto on Friday, the man who was depicted being assaulted in the video said that he was headed westbound on Bremner Boulevard at York Street and was about to pass through the intersection with a green light when the southbound cyclist came off the sidewalk at York Street and entered the intersection, forcing him to jam on his brakes.
The man said that he honked his horn out of frustration, at which point the cyclist hopped off the bike and kicked the front of his car. An altercation then ensued; culminating in the assault that was captured on video by a passerby.
“I got out of the car to ask him what he was doing and after a brief verbal exchange he pulled out a U-shaped bike lock and struck me with,” Brett New said. “At that point, I knew there was a police officer usually stationed just west of Scotiabank Arena so I turned to call for help with my back turned. The cyclist then grabbed me form the behind and threw me to the ground. As I was getting up the cyclist then rode of.”
New said that he sustained a bruise and some contusions to his wrist after being struck with the bike lock as well as some “swelling” and bleeding at the back of his head from being thrown to the ground.
He said that he was in fear after the cyclist struck his vehicle but decided to get out anyway.
“It was a mixture of fear and frustration,” he said of his mindset. “Why does he have a bike lock so readily available? It seemed to me like he was spoiling for a fight and goading me to get out of my car. My window was up and I didn’t say a word to him when he cut in front of me on a red light. For him to get off his bike that quickly and strike my car and then have a bike lock ready to hit me, that made me worried.”
Police investigating incident as assault with a weapon
In a statement provided to CP24, the advocacy group Cycle Toronto said that the incident depicted on video is an unfortunate reminder of the “city’s slow progress on building safer streets.”
The statement notes that there is unfortunately “a lot of tension on our roads, whether from unmanaged congestion or not providing people the space they need to move around.”
“We will leave it up to the police to determine what happened, but we are thankful that nobody seems to be seriously injured,” the statement says. “We must be more empathetic toward one another, and it is important we all stay calm, avoid escalating these situations, and work together to get everybody home safely.”
Police have said that the incident is being investigated as an assault with a weapon.
The investigation is being handled by 52 Division officers.
“This is just unacceptable. We can’t live in fear like this. This needs to be stopped. It is not about cyclists versus cars; it is about personal safety,” New told CTV News Toronto.
Insane cyclist attack- please help identify him. Please call Toronto Police 52 Division. 416 808 5204. Case number 19 1245449. Please upvote and repost. from r/toronto
