Police appeal over "serious assault" that saw cyclist pushed from bike by car passenger

Kent Police have launched an appeal and released a photo of a man they wish to speak to in relation to a "serious assault on a cyclist" last summer which saw a woman pushed from her bike by the passenger of a passing vehicle.

The appeal appears to be for the case of Katie Good, a female Ironman athlete and immigration lawyer who last summer we reported suffered a broken collarbone when she was deliberately shoved from her bike by a laughing car passenger.

It is alleged the woman was shoved into a roadside ditch on Saturday 22 July 2023 as she rode along Marsh Green Road towards Lingfield, the dates and location provided by Kent Police matching those of the incident which saw Ms Good injured.

 A black Vauxhall Astra had been driven alongside her, a passenger of the car then allegedly pushing her off her bike. The victim was taken to hospital where she required treatment for her injuries.

The county's police force has been investigating the incident since, an appeal for information and witnesses launched at the time. A suspect was arrested on 8 September 2023 in connection with the incident and remains on bail pending further investigation.

Inspector Christopher Ward, of the Sevenoaks Community Safety Unit, said: "Our constables have been investigating this incident over several months and, following recent developments, are now able to issue images of a man who may be able to assist with their enquiries.

"I would urge anyone who recognises the person pictured to contact our appeal line. We would also be keen to hear from any other cyclists who may have been involved in, or witnessed, any similar incidents."

Anyone with information should contact Kent Police on 01622 604100, quoting crime reference 46/133100/23. You can also contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111 or by using the online form on their website.

Ms Good had been out training with her boyfriend and fellow triathlete Olivier van den Bent-Kelly at the time. He later took to social media, stating that one of the people in the vehicle "leant out the window, and pushed her off her bike, before laughing and jeering at her as they drove away", the incident coming after a motorist had "deliberately drove behind her".

"To be involved in what is effectively a hit-and-run incident or assault, and for the culprits to act in such a premeditated, malicious manner is abhorrent," Van den Bent-Kelly said, in a post which was been shared by Good with the caption "Pretty awful day".

"I'm furious, upset, and appalled at what happened to her. Cyclists are already vulnerable road users who are frequently unfairly treated by vehicles. To be deliberately targeted in such a way really makes me ask the question: how could aiming for a young, female cyclist in this manner ever be acceptable to anyone?

"The lack of empathy, thought or awareness shown towards Katie and her life really highlights that more drivers need educating on how dangerous their vehicles are."

We have reported on numerous similar incidents in recent years, most recently as two men in France, whose "only motive was idiocy", were handed a two-year suspended prison sentence after a spree of incidents which saw cyclists pushed into ditches, apparently for "fun".

In January 2023, a man was fined £200 by Kilmarnock Sheriff Court for leaning out of an overtaking vehicle and hitting a cyclist with a tub of hair gel, after becoming frustrated that the cyclists were not "moving fast enough".

Last September, a cyclist in Yorkshire feared that he could have been killed when a passenger in an overtaking car opened one of the vehicle's rear doors, hitting him on the hand.

Fortunately, Trev Walker escaped relatively physically unscathed, suffering swelling and bruising to his right hand, but said it "could easily have ended with serious injury or fatality" after a passenger sat in the rear of a passing car opened the door into him as the vehicle's driver passed on the B6248 near Wakefield.

And in April 2021, another cyclist, this time from Ireland, said that the occupants of a vehicle "could have killed me" after he was pushed off his bike by one of its passengers – who later posted footage of the shocking incident, which happened on a mountain road near Dublin, afterwards to social media.

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