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Driver of a Black Honda Civic Reg No. AP57 JNX deliberately knocks me off my bike & assaults me...

Video: No charges against driver filmed knocking cyclist from bike and assaulting him

Incident took place in Colchester in October but Essex Police told rider there was insufficient evidence - despite video footage
by Simon_MacMichael
Mon, Dec 18, 2017 10:13
68

Twitter users have expressed their astonishment at the failure of Essex Police to bring charges against a motorist filmed knocking a cyclist off his bike then getting out of his car and assaulting the rider.

The incident took place on Saturday 14 October in Newcomen Way, Colchester as cyclist Wolf Simpson made his way to a local bike shop.

A tweet of some of the footage posted by Evo Lucas has been retweeted hundreds of times and attracted hundreds of comments,

The driver appears to speed up as he approaches the cyclist, despite a lorry parked on the right restricting the available width of the road.

He passes the rider very closely, then turns around and uses his vehicle to knock the cyclist from his bike, then exits his vehicle and physically attacks him.

Mr Simpson posted the full video to YouTube, and in a text commentary to it says that afterwards, “I called 999 for the attempt on my life and the assault.”

“At first the person on the phone [was] shocked and more concerned of any injuries to me, which thankfully [there] weren’t any to worry about.

“The helmet took all the blows from the driver’s fists and I got minor bruising on hip after being hit with the car.

But he said: “Despite the video footage, Essex Police decided to take no further action on the driver for his dangerous driving due to ‘insufficient evidence’.”

“Despite the footage clearly showing the driver deliberately getting out of his car and assault[ing] me with attempt to do harm, no charges given as the helmet took all the blows and no injuries to me despite the driver admitting he did assault me.”

He said that “All they [police] did do is get him to pay for damages [to the bike] through ‘community resolution’.”

He added: “I had no say in this at all, it was done and dusted by the time I received the letter from Essex Police and told where to collect the money.”

Essex Police
Assault
Colchester
Simon MacMichael

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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68 comments

Avatar
peted76 | 6 years ago
4 likes

Dislike! 

 

Avatar
Hug | 6 years ago
11 likes

Thanks littletel and pjm60. 

I followed the link and had a little look at the Links page. Perhaps the driver should get some more lessons from the driving school or perhaps use the taxi company. A couple of sessions with the life coach may help his anger problem.  

I cannot see that Master Frank Roach or Master Mark Clark will be too happy with the driver going around wearing clothes with their logo on attacking people. Not a good advert and a shame as  most serious martial artists I've known are fairly calm people.

Avatar
Biggus-Dickkus | 6 years ago
9 likes

Makes you wonder what the  hell the police actually do these days because they are certainly are not catching criminals or behaviour like this. Too much bother and cost. We should all ask for a deduction in our taxes. Cant remember the last time I saw a police car on the roads near us... 

Avatar
don simon fbpe | 6 years ago
14 likes

I doesn't matter where the cyclist was (there wasn't enough room on the first pass), I doesn't matter how the cyclist reacted to this. The driver does not, DOES FUCKING NOT, have the right to take the law into their own hands.

I would be asking Essex plod to justify this through freedom of information and taking them to task bad style.

Avatar
Tired of the tr... replied to don simon fbpe | 6 years ago
7 likes
don simon wrote:

I doesn't matter where the cyclist was (there wasn't enough room on the first pass)

Hmm, I'd say there is plenty of room on the first pass (at 2:36 in the video). Wolf (the cyclist) is quite far to the left, perhaps not quite secondary position but perhaps 1.5 m from the kerb, definitely nowhere near the centre. The driver moves from their side of the road well into the middle/opposite site, also going quite fast and sounding the horn. Sure, they have to drive around the lorry that's parked on their side a bit behind Wolf, but he could easily do that after passing Wolf safely.

It's hard to see this not as deliberate and totally unprovoked.

I do agree of course with your point that even when a cyclist does something wrong there's never a justification to hit them as a punishment.

 

Avatar
littletel | 6 years ago
11 likes

I love a bit of investigation! - the logo appears to be this - http://www.wingchunuk.co.uk/

But absolutely amazed by this and lack oh help by the police.

 

Avatar
Hug | 6 years ago
18 likes

Just repeating my comment from the thread I first saw this on - as it is more appropriate here.

This is a shocking assault and terrible driving. I would hope that the police would have done more.

I would have thought that Wolf has a couple more courses of action. It  seems that the driver has admitted liability (according to the video), paying for damage to bike.

My understanding is that if Wolf were to sue in small claims for the assult (pain and suffering?) then the driver would not have a defence - having admitted that he did it and there being video evidence. The burden of proof in a civill claim is much lower than a criminal claim and he admitted liability at a criminal level. I do not know whether the police action would limit any claim, but given that it was without your friend's authority I would have though that it would not - a solicitor would know. Any solicitor here know?

The driver seems to be wearing a martial arts club/organisation logo - it's a ying yang symbol with an image of a man superimposed, though I could  not make out the writing. Also with the way he was bouncing around in a prepared state I would reckon karate (shotakan?), tai kwon do or kick boxing. Martial arts bodies take a dim view of one of their members attacking someone who is not a threat. I would fully expect to have that licence taken away.

 

Avatar
pjm60 replied to Hug | 6 years ago
8 likes
Hug wrote:

 

The driver seems to be wearing a martial arts club/organisation logo - it's a ying yang symbol with an image of a man superimposed, though I could  not make out the writing. Also with the way he was bouncing around in a prepared state I would reckon karate (shotakan?), tai kwon do or kick boxing. Martial arts bodies take a dim view of one of their members attacking someone who is not a threat. I would fully expect to have that licence taken away.

 

 

Reddit detectives identified it as a certain club of wing chun kung fu

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