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news
Man who pushed woman off bike in Tower Hamlets (image released by Met Police)Man filmed pushing cyclist off bike hands himself into police
A man has handed himself in to a police station in east London after the Metropolitan Police published a video today showing a woman being pushed from her bike, with the film subsequently going viral.
The footage, which was recorded on the evening of 1 May by the cyclist involved, was shared widely through the cycling and mainstream press as well as on social media.
– Video: Man pushes female cyclist into traffic in East London – police appeal for witnesses
While it is unclear why it has taken nearly four months for the video to be made public, the speed with which the perpetrator – assuming it is him – turned himself in highlights the value of the internet in helping police progress investigations.
In a statement issued this evening, the Metropolitan Police said:
At around 13:30hrs on Tuesday, 25 August, a 33-year-old man attended Bethnal Green Police Station and identified himself as the man shown in a video released by the Met of an attack on a female cyclist in Whitechapel.
The man was not arrested. He will be interviewed by officers from Tower Hamlets in due course.
Earlier today, Paul Kitson, a solicitor for the law firm Slater & Gordon which counts CTC among its clients, said in a blog post on the national cyclists’ charity’s website: "Whilst the film clip is shocking this is unfortunately not an isolated incident.
“In my experience as a cycle injury lawyer I have come across examples of cyclists being deliberately pushed off their bikes by passengers from passing cars, motorists attempting to push a cyclist into oncoming traffic and even using their vehicle as a weapon.
"When a pedestrian deliberately pushes a cyclist off a bike this is a criminal act. The appropriate offence depends upon the extent of the injury."
The woman who was pushed off her bike in the incident which took place in Sidney Street, Tower Hamlets, did not need hospital treatment but was said by police to have been left very upset by it.
In the CTC blog post, Mr Kitson outlined the potential charges and sentencing that might apply in cases where cyclists are pushed off their bikes,
Given that the rider in this instance did not sustain serious injury, common assault, which carries a maximum sentence of six months’ imprisonment, seems the most likely charge should any be brought.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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33 comments
TBF if I were only 33 and the press were banging on about me being in my mid forties I'd hand myself in just to set the record straight. Then do a Rambo on the police station and run off to the woods.
"A caution at most. After reading some online comments from the public about how its all the cyclist fault I have no doubt why we are such a selfish, greedy and horrid society." ... and the uploader has now closed their Youtube account.
I personally am looking forward to the YouAndYours programme about dangerous pedestrians....
Have you ever been put at risk on the road by a pedestrian?
It may be rare does happen. I was knocked of my bike into the opposite lane by a pedestrian dodging through traffic in a situation not too different from the one in this incident. In a similar incident I witnessed a motorcyclist knocked off his bike by two pedestrians doing the same.
Failure to look by the pedestrian account's for at last some of the incidents that cyclists get blamed for, and it does need to be pointed out.
I agree though, in the context of road safety the kinetic energy invested in an inattentive softshell pedestrian is the least of our worries.
I broke my foot when a pedestrian walked into me, I was pulling into a petrol station, slow speed and he walked right into me from behind a pump, motorbike landed on my foot pinning me and crushing it. note have plates in it.
Have you not seen the latest round of pedestrians?
They don't wear helmets.
They don't have 20 million candle power lights that flash all the time.
They don't always wear brightly coloured clothing.
Some of them even dare to wear lycra.
Frequently seen crossing roads on red lights or jumping out in front of traffic like lemmings.
Change direction for no apparent reason.
Nearly always seen travelling up the inside of stationary vehicles.
Aimlessly wander around with absolutely no thought for other road users whilst wearing earphones and operating handheld devices.
In the countryside they can be encoutered travelling slowly in large groups, often three wide.
Is it well documented that where a large number are seen to congregate there is always a problem with litter.
In short they are slow, stupid and often selfish just like.......
Actually, yes. I had a Danish couple step into the roadway in front of me one time. They looked the wrong way before stepping out. I hauled on the brakes and reduced the impact speed significantly but given the vehicle traffic alongside me, I was unable to veer around them. There were no injuries beyond some bruising but it could have been a lot worse had I not been on the ball.
My wife also had a similar experience when a Polish woman stepped out from behind a bus into her path, again after looking the wrong way. My wife braked hard and luckily for her and the woman she hit, the bike had a basket at the front that absorbed a great deal of the impact energy. There was no way in which to swerve because of vehicle traffic also.
Yes- They sometimes walk out onto the road without looking (often on a red man) and you have to swerve to avoid hitting them as you have no time to brake. Swerving can have untold consequences when sharing the road with cars, lorries and other cyclists.
I have had 3 crashes in the last 5 years in London, and each of them was caused by pedestrians walking into the road in front of me without looking. One of them while I was passing through a green light and she walked out on a red man. Another was a guy on a phone.
On all 3 occasions, I was more injured than they were.
yes, when they step into the road in front of you without looking and you may (instinctively) swerve into the path of something else.
A caution at most. After reading some online comments from the public about how its all the cyclist fault I have no doubt why we are such a selfish, greedy and horrid society.
Nah, society is mostly fine. I've met as many as several people in the real world, and for the most part they fell within an acceptable range of annoying.
The online versions of our newspapers are a strange world of their own, full of mad people who no one would normally listen to. Before the Internet, did anyone ever think a newspaper would be improved, if each article was followed by several columns of nutters shouting abuse at one another.
One day, some editor will wake up and wonder why they have this rubbish at the bottom of every page. Though they are sometimes very, very funny.
Cyclists are an out-group so it's the kind reaction I'd expect from selfish, ignorant people. Unfortunately, there are a lot of them about
Bring back hanging.
In this case I don't think (judging by his actions) he's well hung
What a total pussy.. pushes a lady off a bike..
Get another equal sized or larger male in front of him and see if he's so tough, or even better a lady trained in hand to hand combat of some sort).
Money is on him being abusive to all women in his life, and i expect a history of abuse in one form or another..
Total scum.
What a c*nt. He needs a good beating from the finest in the plod, perhaps the same plods who beat up a 17 year old lad with autism.
Sorry, the fact the person who turned himself in wasn't arrested
says to me that he wasn't the person concerned.
Had he been the person concerned he should have been arrested and either conveyed to the appropriate police station conducting the investigation or officers would have gone to Bethnal Green.
Simple. It's not rocket science!
Oh, Slater & Gordon, you might want to consider criminal damage as well! I'm sure there would be some damage to the bicycle and/or cyclists clothing....well, I don't need to tell a firm of solicitors how to do their job....do I? Defendant will probably get more for that than common assault.
Surely the police wouldn't release a statement that essentially calls off the "man hunt" if they doubted it was the man they were looking for?
Also, if it's not the person concerned, then why would he "be interviewed by officers from Tower Hamlets in due course."?
Just some random guy copping to the crime? He is pretty clearly identifiable, I'm betting the police would know if it was the same guy standing in front of them. He hasn't been arrested YET. They didn't indicate he couldn't/wouldn't be
I could check later with a mate who's a DI in the Met if I could be arsed, but I rather suspect that presenting himself is enough, and that arrest is specifically to detain someone pending initial establishment of details and where there's clear grounds for an arrest. In this case much of the detail was recorded from the cyclist months ago, and they've probably now taken some sort of (preliminary ?) statement from the bloke involved. Are they going to achieve more with a formal arrest ? - probably not.
Still, there's a few on here that are serving/ex-police, I'm sure they'll clarify the situation..
I'm glad you apologised first. That's the sort of comment that appears all the time in the press following traffic collisions when it's just as wrong.
The answer is in the report, "He will be interviewed by officers from Tower Hamlets in due course.". He attended a station in Bethnal Green, the officers in Tower Hamlets are the ones who will decide whether or not to bring charges, for which he would have to be arrested first.
You don't have to be arrested to make a voluntary statement. They may also choose to use a caution, which doesn't require arrest. That's actually common for assault, if there's no other criminal history.
They don't need to arrest him at the moment. If he is willingly attending arresting him would be stupid. If they are happy that he is who he says he is and is happy to be interviewed now and in the future then arresting him serves no purpose. If they arrested him the police could only hold him for up to 24 hours before they have to charge him with a crime or release him.
If he is willingly answering questions, not lawyering up, is not a flight risk, is not an ongoing danger to the public then they don't really have grounds or any advantage in arresting him.
Once they have their ducks in a row properly (and no rush now the clock isn't ticking) and If they charge him they simply invite him to the police station, formerly arrest him for the purposes of charging and so that he is aware of his rights. Charge him and bail him to attend court.
Here is a tip. The police may ask a suspect if they would like to accompany them to the station and assist with enquiries. They do that because it gives them far more leeway than arresting them. If you think you are a suspect rightly or wrongly you should consider whether you would prefer to be arrested which conveys rights upon you. Normally the invite to a station is so that they can use all the environmental pressure they can without actually making the arrest and starting the clock. If you are a suspect then it's in your interest to start the clock and get a lawyer.
Not entirely sure that all of that is accurate.
Firstly, it is entirely common for matters to be dealt with through a "voluntary attendance" at the Police station. It is more common for less serious matters but I have known the Police deal with some pretty serious offences in this manner. It often comes down to whether or not there are sufficient grounds to arrest a suspect. To be honest the majority of people are arrested because it gives the Police far greater powers (for example a volunteer can leave at any time whereas someone under arrest cannot, if arrested the Police can impose conditions on bail etc) and so there are often spurious grounds put forward to justify it. For the record "lawyering up" is not a ground to arrest someone.
Secondly, if arrested the Police can detain you up to a maximum of 24 hours (though this can be extended). This is a cumulative total of the time spent in custody. If someone is arrested and interviewed after 4 hours and the Police have further enquiries to make they can (and very frequently do) release the suspect on bail to return to the Police station at a set time and date. When they return if there is a further interview or enquiries to be done whilst the suspect is in custody they can hold them for up to the end of the 24 hours (the "clock" restarts when they enter custody). It is not the case that once the Police arrest someone they have 24 hours from the arrest to get the case squared away and a charging decision made.
Thirdly, if someone attends as a volunteer they do not need to be arrested to be charged. There is an alternative of "reporting for summons" which means that the Officer will compile a file, forward it to a decision maker whocan then request the Suspect me "Summoned" to Court to appear in respect of a charge.
Fourthly, and this is a personal bug bear, the final paragraph seems to indicate that you can only have a lawyer if you are arrested. This is not the case. Anyone interviewed under caution, either whilst under arrest or when attending as a volunteer, is entitled to free and independent legal advice. Quite why anyone would want to go through such an experience without (free) expert advice is beyond me. I would also disagree that it's in your interests to get arrested, just because the custody clock is running does not mean you will benefit, being a volunteer who can walk away is far better.
After having his mugshot on most news websites, including the BBC I suspect he will be feeling a bit like a marked man.
Good!
Well well well, hope the little guy is proud of himself for assaulting a woman.
Honestly, I wish he gets punished fairly but sternly.
Would be nice if his side of the story was actually mentioned to fill in the gaps of this story...
Why did months go by before this surfaced...
Why did cyclist say please don't push me out of the blue...
Why did she give him the middle finger...
Etc...
*If* she did then I'm guessing it was a response to him shouting "Shut up you *****" and the other inaudible swearing that followed.
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