Police have released a photo of a cyclist who has been accused of punching a motorist in Bristol. The incident took place at around 10am on June 8 on Winterstoke Road.
According to police, a group of cyclists stopped suddenly in front of a car, forcing the driver to stop. One shouted abuse and punched the car before reaching in and punching the driver in the face and shoulder.
Police want to speak to the cyclist in connection with their inquiries and have released the photograph above.
Anyone with information is asked to get in touch on 101, quoting crime reference number 5216124784.
49 thoughts on “Police appeal to track down cyclist suspected of assaulting Bristol motorist”
Looks a bit like a London
Looks a bit like a London cabbie on a bike… possible False Flag attack?
Really, they just stopped in
Really, they just stopped in front of some random car and started thumping the completely innocent driver? With no provocation at all?
Anyway, it was probably just a moment of inattention. Careless use of the hands, I’m sure he’ll be deeply saddened for ever by his carelessness.
Driver pulls shitty move on
Driver pulls shitty move on cyclists & drives off.
Driver has to stop at traffic lights.
Cyclist catches up with driver and punches him.
Driver drives past cyclist while using phone & takes photo before scurrying off.
Drive makes up story & tells on cyclist.
bike_food wrote:
Probably something like that, and I wonder why the story isn’t full of ‘allegedly’ and ‘claimed’.
Also looking forward to the lawyers telling us how much worse this is than “accidentally” killing someone with a car.
bike_food wrote:
Sadly that sounds quite probable. How else would they snap a picture of the cyclist when hes calmly riding. How else there would be nothing else on the picture. And so on.
Not that the rider should punch the driver of course.
If I were that cyclist and I
If I were that cyclist and I read this article I’d be putting the jersey and shorts at the back of the cupboard for a year or two, losing the phone case and deleting the ride before it gets uploaded…
Initialised wrote:
Note to self: wear inconspicuous cycling clothes.
…rider found guilty and
…rider found guilty and sentenced to 8 years in prison and a £4000 victim surcharge for their scratches!
Is it wrong of me to be glad
Is it wrong of me to be glad to read a story where the driver is on the end of a punch rather than the cyclist. It makes a refreshing change.
Housecathst wrote:
Year, yes it is very wrong of you. If you condone vigilante violence against 1 group, then you condone it against all.
And yes I did earlier post an idle speculation about the consequences of accidentally setting fire to a killer driver’s car and I embrace my hypocrisy in calling you out on this.
Mungecrundle wrote:
don’t fret, give it 5 mintues there’ll be another story about a white van driver giving a cyclist a slap to redress the balance, it’s much better when the cyclist is the victim isn’t it.
Someone thought he was safe
Someone thought he was safe in his pram, acting like a baby, and got caught out.
Or maybe yeah, a group of cyclists were just riding around and picked on poor old him at random.
We (cyclists as a community)
We (cyclists as a community) shouldn’t condone violence on the roads. But, we don’t really form a community, so I’m quite happy to smile about this and think about how many times I’ve wanted to give a motorist a slap in the heat of the moment (never have though). If I spot this guy in Bristol, I’d be more likely to shake his hand than turn him in.
hawkinspeter wrote:
Personally, I always visualise the scene from Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrells where Vinnie Jones smashes someone’s head repeatedly in the car door. “Never ever…ever…”. Probably not as intimidating if he was wearing lycra though.
That looks like me, but who’s
That looks like me, but who’s superimposed that kit on my body. Shame I’ve never been to Bristol but it definately is my doppleganger.
I hope they get zero response
I hope they get zero response to this.
Also, what is road.cc coming to? *wrings hands* All this negative news about cycling and now we are all invited to become police snitches.
Fuck the driver.
Fuck the driver.
Plasterer’s Radio wrote:
Now, don’t repress your feelings: say what you really mean…
I love this site sometimes
I love this site sometimes
Like the guys above said, the cyclist they’re looking for is most likely to get spotted by his gear or Strava activity if he uploaded it. Though I’m guessing he’s deleted it by now to make sure no-one snooped on him.
The cyclist in question will likely take a different route for a while too and have deleted any photos on social media that shows his tattoos.
Could be tricky to find him.
It’s Chris Hoy.
It’s Chris Hoy.
Cyclists are a bunch of thugs
Cyclists are a bunch of thugs, poor driver (not) when they catch him, he should be flogged within an inch of his life.
Unfuckin believeable!
Quote:
Fuck off.
When you take the same sort of action on our side I might have considered it.
Until then, nofuckingchance.
I don’t condone violence but
I don’t condone violence but having been threatened with it on a number of times by motorists, and no interest from the police, I don’t hold much sympathy for this motorist.
Drivers fault should have
Drivers fault should have worn a helmet and Hi-Viz…
I’m thinking this guy can
I’m thinking this guy can probably throw more of a punch than most in the pro peleton…
Who took the photo? Driver?
Who took the photo? Driver?
atgni wrote:
Moments later the driver, whilst on phone, mowed down a family of four on bikes and was sentenced to 40 hours community service and left court ‘with a heavy heart’.
Meanwhile, a full scale man hunt tracked down the cyclist in question, and an early-doors forcible entry and arrest was enacted. The cyclists bike and computer were seized and the cyclist now faces further charges of being in possession of cycle-porn, with several hundred images of category 5 level bikes such as the Aston Martin One 77 found on his PC.
The judge has already warned him to expect a lengthy prison sentence despite the fact he has not yet entered court and been found guilty.
I am surprised that people
I am surprised that people support the actions of the cyclist just because he is a cyclist. He may be a thug on a bike or be the innocent party….but we just don’t know. There are idiots in cars and idiots on bikes…fact.
Sensible wrote:
Not particularly supporting the cyclist, but
1. Whenever a car driver kills a cyclist we get reports full of hedging and “allegedly”, rather than the certainty expressed in this report
2. Whatever you think of the cyclist, killing people is clearly worse, but generally excused as accidental when done by motorists, so some of us enjoy making similar ludicrous claims here
oldstrath wrote:
Not particularly supporting the cyclist, but
1. Whenever a car driver kills a cyclist we get reports full of hedging and “allegedly”, rather than the certainty expressed in this report
2. Whatever you think of the cyclist, killing people is clearly worse, but generally excused as accidental when done by motorists, so some of us enjoy making similar ludicrous claims here— Sensible
1. your issue is with the reporting? OK but I think ‘Sensible’ is referring to the certainty expressed in the comments that – and I paraphrase – the driver deserved it/the cyclist could not be in the wrong.
2. I’m not sure the point here – no-one has been killed. Some of the claims are certainly ludicrous though.
In contrast to most news stories, I used to find road.cc’s comments sections actually enhanced my faith in humanity. Contributions were generally sensible, balanced, didn’t jump to conclusions and the ill-informed and ill-intentioned were called out. But some recent stories seem to have attracted a Daily Mail-esque hate herd, full of wild tar-brushing prejudice without substantiation.
Perhaps it’s what the Brexit debate has done to us?
Duncann wrote:
yeah I bet the driver voted out, he definitely deserved a slap!
Duncann wrote:
More likely it’s what a succession of reportts of cases where drivers who do kill people are essentially let off, and of personal encounters with drivers who imagine they own the road, have done to us.
If the legal system essentially abandons non-motorists is it really surprising we don’t feel outrage when a reaction occurs?
oldstrath wrote:
If the legal system essentially abandons non-motorists is it really surprising we don’t feel outrage when a reaction occurs?— oldstrath
Outrage is understandable – having once more been nearly taken out by an SUV, Tuesday evening I completely concur – it’s the explicit approval of vigilante action without any knowledge whatsoever what went on that worries me. Unprovoked attack ? Remotest of remote possibilities in all likelyhood, but no-one here seems to actually know what occured and once you start throwing punches you make yourself accountable for your actions as well. Worthy of a slap ? Dunno – neither does anyone else. Have I thought about something similar before ? Of course.. doesn’t make it automatically pardonable.
oldstrath wrote:
That’s exactly the Daily Mail/Fox News approach. Print only stories about true-but-(fortunately) exceptional events (e.g. bad things immigrants/Muslims did, drivers killing cyclists) and watch the hate grow.
There’s clearly more to this incident than we’ve been told – as is generally the case at this stage. So we a) shouldn’t jump to conclusions, and b) condemn everyone who isn’t one of us as being against us. Which is what most commenter have done.
Sensible wrote:
Yes, there are plenty of idiots around, but this incident doesn’t sound like some lone nutter going round attacking random car drivers. Firstly, there was a “group of cyclists” (maybe one of these new Hells Angels gangs that go round on cycles) and secondly, how likely is it that cyclists will chase down car drivers to attack them without provocation?
Sensible wrote:
I think the support of the cyclists actions is down to us all forming an assumption of what happened based upon our own experiences.
The chances of this being a random nutter on a bike punching a gent in a car are very, very slim. The chances of it being a group of cyclists being treated like shit by a twat in a car however…
Hopefully one of the cyclists caught the whole incident on camera and we can have a chuckle about it tomorrow 🙂
PaulBox wrote:
I think the support of the cyclists actions is down to us all forming an assumption of what happened based upon our own experiences.
The chances of this being a random nutter on a bike punching a gent in a car are very, very slim. The chances of it being a group of cyclists being treated like shit by a twat in a car however…
Hopefully one of the cyclists caught the whole incident on camera and we can have a chuckle about it tomorrow 🙂— Sensible
Exactly. Most motorists probably expect, because of it’s very ability to turn you into Froome build, that they’ll never get any comeback or physical comfrontation. Unfortunately for them, this guy hasn’t reached Froomage just yet.
Sensible wrote:
Oh pish. People on a ride don’t just punch drivers for a laugh. If he had punched the guy for no reason then someone riding with him would say something.
Assuming the car driver
Assuming the car driver started it, if I was one of the other cyclists I would go to the police and give chapter and verse…on what the car driver did.
However, as is often the case when riding, I wouldn’t be able to identify the cyclist.
Will no-one think of the poor
Will no-one think of the poor motorist!
The poor car driver could have easily been killed if they had coolided with those cyclists and the cyclists would get off with a small fine and 100 hours community service…
This is clearly a biased website 🙂
Perhaps they were just
Perhaps they were just stopping to navigate a junction and the cyclist in question was just signalling – if the driver of the car was too close it’s quite conceivable that an outstretched arm (signalling) might innocently strike the car or, if an open window, the driver.
😉
Folks, it is worth
Folks, it is worth remembering that this cyclist is SUSPECTED of punching a driver. Until a court judges on the matter, we cannot be sure if a driver was punched, and if so, if it was this particular cyclist.
Pretty obvious that the
Pretty obvious that the cyclist here was just swatting away a fly or adjusting his jersey and the sun got in his eyes.
I ride a bike every day of
I ride a bike every day of the week, I am routinely nearly killed, abused and generally subjected to moronic behaviour from drivers
I drive a car every day and I have never once had a run in with a cyclist, because I give them time and space and I don’t drive like a short sighted arrogant bellend
so based on experience I can imagine where the problem here lies and who is likely at fault
Gourmet Shot wrote:
I drive a car every day and I have never once had a run in with a cyclist, because I give them time and space and I don’t drive like a short sighted arrogant bellend
so based on experience I can imagine where the problem here lies and who is likely at fault— Gourmet Shot
My thoughts too.
I have had occasional (though rare) run-ins with drivers and every single time it is due to the driver being aggressive and impatient, a prick with road ownership issues and no interest in obeying the rules or respecting other road users. And yes, I’ve been driving for over 30 years and understand both points of view.
Last week my 12 year old daughter was shouted at aggressively by a driver who passed too close and cut her up on the short stretch of road she uses on her way to school. The twat is lucky I wasn’t there, his card would have been well and truly marked!
The situation is obviously
The situation is obviously escalating, with keys being snatched last week and drivers being punched this week; what next, cyclist dragging driver from car and beating him up? Hmmm, tempting, but probably not productive.
That said, I well remember about twenty years ago the spate of shootings on USA roads of car drivers who had committed an infringement of the law, which led to a surge in polite, law-abiding driving, so perhaps the odd beating of a driver would be worth it.
To be realistic for a moment, it is clear that many drivers behave extremely badly towards cyclists and there is little chance of them either being caught or punished, so are cyclists entitled to take the law into their own hands and exact justice?
I still want to try my experiment of having what looks like an AK-47 strapped to my back and see what effect that has on drivers.
On a personal note, I live in Bristol and I’d be happy to buy him a pint.
burtthebike wrote:
That’s easy
: scared drivers phone police, police phone whatever we have instead of SWAT, and within moments you would be surrounded by helicopters, armed police and big black vans (plus a selection of those scary unmarked police cars of which there seem to be an ever-increasing number).
(That said, and getting back to the original story – no way did these cyclists just decide to ‘ave a go at some poor innocent motorist. Given how badly many drive, they probably didn’t even realise that they had driven poorly, but I would put down genuine money that they did, and that this incident was a consequence.)
Just been literally driven
Just been literally driven towards, by a guy who ‘had’ to overtake coming towards me and I have get out the way almost onto the grass. If I’d been in an urban setting with a chance of catching him I’d have probably started something (depending on the golden rule of thinking you can have em).
What kind of a cyclist goes
What kind of a cyclist goes on a group ride on a Wednesday morning with the kitchen sink on his back? Makes me wonder if it was actually just a bunch of random commuters who had to stop for some traffic condition?