A North Yorkshire cyclist has spoken on social media of how she was knocked from her bike by a teenage driver, who then stole her phone to prevent her from taking pictures – adding that two police officers who attended the incident said they shouldn’t have been called and the victim should have swapped details with the driver instead.
Allison Darling, from Knaresbrough, gave details of the incident, which happened on Saturday 4 September, in a series of posts on Twitter. Referencing a picture she’d posted earlier the same day, she said: “Just a few hours after I posted this I was knocked off my bike by a teenage driver.
“After hitting me from behind while I was stopped at a junction and catapulting me over the handlebars, he aggressively stole my phone so I couldn’t photo his number plate or the scene.
“If two other drivers hadn’t stopped (and also seen the phone theft) I’m certain he’d have driven off and left me alone in the road. To top it off @NYorksPolice (who were called by one of the witnesses) said they shouldn’t have been called, we should have ‘just swapped details’,” she continued.
She added: “Being knocked off your bike and having your phone aggressively stolen doesn’t apparently constitute a crime and the driver was free to leave. A week later, this is something I still can’t get my head around @NYorksPolice.”
Just a few hours after I posted this I was knocked off my bike by a teenage driver. After hitting me from behind while I was stopped at a junction and catapulting me over the handlebars, he aggressively stole my phone so I couldn’t photo his number plate or the scene … https://t.co/1tUxSI6r8v
— allison darling (@ajdc123) September 11, 2021
Being knocked off your bike and having your phone aggressively stolen doesn’t apparently constitute a crime and the driver was free to leave. A week later, this is something I still can’t get my head around @NYorksPolice
— allison darling (@ajdc123) September 11, 2021
She said that she was injured in the crash – though luckily no bones were broken – and added that “For clarity, it was the officers who attended who told me they shouldn’t have been called,” and “not control room.”
Given the injury as well as the driver taken her mobile phone, a number of people replying on Twitter urged her to contact North Yorkshire Police as well as the county’s police, fire and crime commissioner regarding the officers’ response.
In a tweet sent on Sunday, Ms Darling confirmed that she had spoken to the police control room and was due to speak to an officer on Monday about her concerns over the handling of the case.
In subsequent replies to people commenting on the incident, she also said that she had obtained the driver’s insurance details and that, as a British Cycling member, they were “providing legal support to try and recoup the costs for the damage to my bike.”
Philip Allot, the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire has also requested details of the incident from her so he can try and ascertain what went on.
Ms Darling follows road.cc on Twitter and we have sent her a direct message to find out if there has been any update, and will add her response to this story once we hear from her.
-1024x680.jpg "“Clear anti-cyclist bias”: Lawsuit filed against Toronto police after cop doored cyclist… before ticketing rider over incident")
27 thoughts on “Driver steals cyclist’s phone after knocking her from bike – police attending say they shouldn’t have been called”
So is it that more and more
So is it that more and more police are just thinking, “Ah, f- it!” or is it that these stories have always been happening but are being more widely reported? nicmason – do you have anything to chip in? 😉
Much as you’d like . No.
Much as you’d like . No. Looks like the police may have mishandled the situation. I’m sure the barrack room roadcc lawyers will take care of everything though.
I will add though that IMO Police, Fire and Crime Commissioners are a thoroughly bad idea and an introduction of the sort of populist crap policing they have in the USA.
(No subject)
My Twitter algorythms picked
My Twitter algorythms picked up this tweet as “one of interest” due to looking at alot of cycling tweeters. It sounded bad then and still as bad now.
Hope she makes a full
Hope she makes a full recovery.
Am now awaiting with bated breath our resident trolls to arrive and hold forth on how this is utterly reasonable, she shouldn’t have wasted precious police time, and was to blame for the whole thing having touched the
scrote’strue victim’s ™ car.Captain Badger wrote:
Aaaand here they come…..
First one’s making a good start. In spite of the situation, ( a lone woman, knocked off her bike so likely in trauma), the instigator (a male stranger) demanding and seizing her mobile ( I would imagine a traumatic experience even out of this context), our first contender is going straight in with “well it’s only really theft if…”, a fine example of invalidating someone’s experience on legal tech.
Then follows up solidly with “let’s doubt the woman’s story….” I wonder if there are any other violent crimes against women that this logic pertains to in his mind….
Next, a very deft move, excusing the police’s behaviour “well it’s all a civil matter, as there’s only damage to the bike….”
Finally, a superbly cynical “let’s hope she gets better.”
This is one of his finest. Any following will have a lot of work to do to top that, but the standard of competitors is high. I think we’re in for a treat tonight.
Captain Badger wrote:
Oh, let’s save the ladieees! What a thoroughly sexist thing to write. Women are just as able to fend for themselves as men, thank you very much.
What is it this does for you?
What is it this does for you?
Does it give you some sort of thrill to feel like you’ve won some sort of intellectual battle?
Do your attempts to be nasty while hiding behind a presentation that allows you to pretend to yourself that you have plausible deniability pleaase you in some way?
Who hurt you?
alymac71 wrote:
I really can’t imagine that…..
Oh ok, so I guess we shouldn
Oh ok, so I guess we shouldn’t be having separate men’s and women’s categories in sports if we are all physically equal?
Captain Badger wrote:
Oooh straight back in, playing with the crowd.
A veiled insinuation that men attacking women is not so bad , smartly hidden with some pseudo-feminist virtue signalling. The contortions have been taken to an art form.
He’s on FIRE.
Philip Allot, the Police,
Philip Allot, the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire has also requested details of the incident from her so he can try and ascertain what went on
This is an interesting development. In Lancashire, the PCC just claims ‘nothing to do with me, squire, go through the police complaints procedure’ which (again in Lancashire) couldn’t be more comic if it was written by Gilbert and Sullivan
More and more bizarre! It
More and more bizarre! It looks to all the world as if our police forces are having a competition to see which can be the least competent/most utterly useless when dealing with cyclists. I still think it’s Wiltshire, but this crass stupidity has to put the North Yorks coppers firmly in the medals.
I can’t wait to hear how an injury collision and theft, backed up by two independent witnesses should not be a police matter and to be dealt with by exchanging details; how would that have got her phone back?
Interesting that the PCC is following up the case, and that begs the question why other PCCs don’t do the same. I’d love to be a fly on the wall when he meets the Chief Constable with the officer/s who attended the incident; mind you, I’m not sure the language would be printable.
Is this another case where clear law-breaking with a cyclist as a victim will not be prosecuted because of police incompetence/bias/corruption?
I very much doubt it met the
I very much doubt it met the definition of theft. It may well have been assault, but, despite my dislike of police incompetence and laziness*, it is actually a bit complicated legally, and it’s somewhat understandable that ordinary police aren’t that clear on more obscure points of law. (*Of course, it’s reprehensible they also aren’t clear on everyday bits of law they should know well.)
WRT the collision, I find it hard to believe they objected to being called out when the driver refused to exchange details. I would hope they said something like ‘we shouldn’t have had to come out for this’, meaning that the driver shouldn’t have caused the need, rather than that there was no need.
But then, it’s police we’re talking about, so they may well just have been being thick&lazy again.
A charge of ‘theft’ shouldn’t
A charge of ‘theft’ shouldn’t be too hard to justify. After all, just because I recover something (in this case with the aid of witnesses) doesn’t mean the person who stole it didn’t ‘intend to deprive me of it…’.
What surprises me is that, as the stealing of the phone appears to have been an attempt to hide evidence/prevent evidence being collected, a charge of perveting the course of justice could have been laid. Something the Police and Courts are usually pretty keen to jump on hard.
Sounds like a nasty incident, in my area, and (whatever our latterday Germaine ‘Garrage’ Greer might say), the fact that it was perpetrated upon a lone female who was possibly badly injured makes it even worse.
To clarify, is Allison back
To clarify, is Allison back in possession of her phone?
“Stealing” only applies if someone takes something with the intention of never returning it. I remember that well from the story of the guy who snatched car keys.
Apart from that, the story isn’t clear as to whether there was any serious injury or if she just came off her bike, so it isn’t possible to draw any conclusions as to whether this really warranted police attendance.
That said, I’m guessing from the attending police’s attitude that there might have just been a bit of damage to the bike, which is an entirely civil matter.
Nonetheless I wish Allison well and hope this nasty incident hasn’t put her off cycling.
Nigel Garrage wrote:
So it may hinge on whether the driver intended not to return the phone but was forced to by the presence of witnesses. It would be more difficult to prove theft beyond reasonable doubt if the phone had been handed back. But the witnesses might well allow a charge of attempted theft, or even robbery if force was used.
As there was an injury (let’s believe the victim) the police should indeed have been called.
TheBillder wrote:
Well that’s an interesting one, because according to the article, ‘as a British Cycling member, they were “providing legal support to try and recoup the costs for the damage to my bike.”’
Now I’ve had the misfortune of having to engage British Cycling myself as a result of an RTA (no I didn’t call the police), and they (Leigh Day in my case) pursued damages for both damage to property and injury.
Therefore, due to the fact British Cycling doesn’t appear to be pursuing an injury claim, I can only conclude in all likelihood there was no serious injury, which again dovetails in with the police response here.
The BC insurance may have
The BC insurance may have decided that the injuries were not sufficient enough to be included in the claim as the motorists insurers would probably bounced that part. Non the less an injury has been received at the scene of the crash which is sufficient enough to involve the police. Otherwise swap details and move on. I’ve been always been taught to involve the police if someone is hurt or the other party refuses to swap details or if those details later prove to be false. As for your case I suggest DA were at it. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a driver being injured in a collision with a cyclist. Oh and on a pedantry note. It’s RTC. not RTA.
Nigel Garrage wrote:
Criminal damage, an offence under the Criminal Damage Act 1971, is in fact a crime, not an entirely civil matter.
There might be reasonable doubt about whether the damage was caused recklessly, but you shouldn’t assume that.
Is Nigel pretending to be
Is Nigel pretending to be sensible because of what happened to Farty?
Bit of a rude way to describe
Bit of a rude way to describe Rendel
Nigel Garrage wrote:
Sorry Nige but I’m a bit short at the minute, I can’t afford to pay rent on the space I’m occupying inside your head.
No, just desperate for
No, just desperate for attention as usual.
Depending on her phone’s
Depending on her phone’s security, I’d say the driver already had all her details. Doesn’t seem like he was offering to make an exchange for his own however.
The headline is wrong.
The headline is wrong.
It should read “Driver steals cyclist’s phone after knocking her from bike-Police attending say they couldn’t give a fuck.
This happened on the road
This happened on the road where I’ve made several complaints to the police and NYCC about both the inappropriate speed limit and the casual speeding / racing by teenage drivers. Have been brushed off each time, although the police did stick a speed monitor down and confirmed that it wasn’t an issue because “only 20% of drivers were speeding”.
Would suggest that this lady also considers legal action against NYCC because they’ve been informed of the risk and failed to act.