A man has been arrested after a female cyclist was injured after allegedly being “forcibly” pushed off a seawall while riding on the pavement, causing her to plummet several feet onto the beach below.
The woman, in her 60s, was cycling along Culver Parade in Sandown, a seaside resort on the south-east coast of the Isle of Wight, on Tuesday at around 3.10pm when the incident took place, in front of a beach filled with holidaymakers.
According to the Island Echo, the cyclist was “forcibly pushed” as she travelled along the narrow wall separating the road from the beach. She fell several feet and landed on the beach, sustaining what was reported to be a leg injury.
Local lifeguards and paramedics rushed to treat the injured cyclist, while Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance were also called, landing on the beach just metres from the scene.
However, the woman’s injuries were not as severe as first feared and she was taken by road to St Mary’s Hospital.
A 38-year-old man from Ryde has been arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary have confirmed that they are treating the incident as an assault.
The incident in Sandown comes in the same week a video of a cyclist being shoved into a canal by an angry dogwalker has attracted national headlines after going viral on social media.
Manchester-based cyclist Klaudia Mitura was riding her bike to work on 19 July when she approached a couple walking with their dog along a narrow towpath. The 34-year-old can then be seen in the clip, captured on her bike camera, braking and coming to a halt, as one of the walkers shouts at her to “slow down”.
Mitura then pointed out to the couple, who were stood across the width of the path, that their dog was off its lead, prompting the man to angrily retort: “Yeah, but you’re on a f***ing bike.” He then calls the cyclist a “f***ing idiot” before pushing her into the canal and walking off.
“As you can see in the video I was trying to pass the couple. He did not want to move out of the way,” Mitura, reflecting on the “traumatising” encounter, told the Manchester Evening News.
“When he passed me, he just pushed me in the water. They were gone, and didn’t turn their heads to see if I’m alive or not.
“I was strapped to the pedals of the bike, so it was really hard to get out. I was thinking of how to get out. No-one was there so I was in the water for about five minutes before someone took me out.”
The mum-of-two, who said she can’t swim and was worried she was going to drown, managed to stand on a rock before a passer-by helped her out of the water and called the police.
“I don’t know what I would do if no-one had walked past me. They didn’t look back to see if I’m okay or if I’m drowning,” she said.
“He refused to move out of the way, I didn’t do anything, I just wanted to pass him and go my way.
“I need help with my mental health. I’m on my own with that, I’m traumatised. It’s the first time anything like this has happened. Cycling was my main means of transport. I’m physically okay but mentally it’s really bad.”
16 thoughts on “Man arrested after female cyclist “forcibly” pushed off seawall, causing her to plunge several feet onto beach”
They need to throw the
They need to throw the proverbial book at him and end this open season on cyclists. The whole thing is getting out of hand and if they don’t do something soon they’ll have a fatality :-/
Absolutely. But I also note
Absolutely. But I also note the way in which deliberate physical attacks on cyclists by people outside of cars is treated VERY differently to attacks by people inside cars.
Absolutely. But I also note
Absolutely. But I also note the way in which deliberate physical attacks on cyclists by people outside of cars is treated VERY differently to attacks by people inside cars.
HLaB wrote:
It has already happened: Celia Ward
(No subject)
🙁
I am not sure that one (which
I am not sure that one (which case has been chewed over at great length, even here) is what you’re looking for. Though I guess you could disagree with the facts as found in the appeal – and/or perhaps you’re privy to some information that hasn’t already been aired?
OTOH while I think I saw other incidents like this reported in road.cc I can’t think of them now. If you’re prepared to accept ones which started with someone *in* a motor vehicle prior to the assault there are examples with injury caused e.g. this one from Edinburgh?
Or this one? (Also “interesting” in that they were convicted of dangerous driving and assault and had similar previous, yet only a suspended prison sentence – presumably the “plead guilty, out of character”. And the judge said “This is your opportunity to address your anger and find different ways of dealing with it.” – well, they’d apparently already earlier had one (mandatory) chance to do that, didn’t seem to have worked then…)
Or this one? …
But perhaps these are all just our friend “road rage” and tending towards the “bit of argy-bargy, you know how people can get wound up on the roads, normally six of one, half-a-dozen of the other …”
Not privy to any extra
Not privy to any extra information – just what was reported in the media at the time. The Approved Judgement you supplied provides a greater deal of information than I had otherwise read. Thank you.
I figured there would be other instances of cyclist fatality from an interaction with a pedestrian (as there will be instances of pedestrian fatalities from cyclist interactions), but this case was the first one that sprung to mind.
Indeed, due to a lot of court
Indeed, due to a lot of court time lots of “facts” seem to have developed which the appeal judgement contradicts.
That was a tragic case with lots of incidental “people could have done better” – the council with provision for cycling (even they didn’t intially seem to know what was a “cycle facility” and what not…), the prosecution lawyers for over-egging it, the sentencing judge for missing points of law, probably the accused’s lawyers for their defence also. And one might even wonder whether the accused was making or was even equipped to make the best choices for herself. However she seems to have keenly defended her independence and the first can perhaps be asked about everyone.
If you’ll go futher and allow cases of “assaulted by someone while in/on a vehicle (but not by hitting them with said vehicle)” there are a number of cases – though I can’t think of any with fatalities. There have been people pushed over while cycling by motorcyclists, by car passengers, and of course “throwing things at cyclist” is almost a sport…
Do you think there is any
Do you think there is any coincidence in the timings of these events?
The extensive publicity of the Manchester incident, supported with many popular comments supporting the actions of the ‘innocent’ man over the ‘marauding’ cyclist, can only embolden and encourage other like-minded folk into dishing out further vigilanty justice… to women…
I can see no way in which such publicity could ever actually reduce the chances of copy-cat incidents, so we are only left with; has no effect on likelihood, or increases likelihood of further incidents.
I don’t believe we’ve had to wait long to see which it is.
Are they going to be charging
Are they going to be charging the Daily Mail comment contributors with inciting violence?
No doubt the Daily Mail or
No doubt the Daily Mail or Telegraph will have responded with something like :
“The World’s Gone Mad – Have A Go Hero Arrested Just For Tackling Rogue Cyclist.”
“A 38 year old man was arrested for taking steps to tackle a rogue cyclist. The ex- Paratrooper lived up to his old regimental motto of “Ready For Anything”, the day a lycra – clad lout cyclist rode within two feet of him on a narrow shared pathway.
The burly 19 stone builder and back row rugby forward with his local club didn’t hesitate to barge the 7 stone women in her 60s as she hurtled past him at 5 mph.
He then bravely leapt down a height of 6 feet to the beach and proceeded to beat the woman around the head with a piece of driftwood, before being stopped by a group of nearby teenage skinheads.
“It’s ridiculous. The police never do anything and I’m exercising my rights to defend my space and repell a real threat of injury. I took her out and was making sure that the threat was neutralised, as per my army traing. The law is protecting the guilty and penalising the innocent.”
The man also expressed his disgust at the intervening youths.
“It would do these namby pamby hooligans a lot of good if national service was brought back!”
The case continues.
Am I reading a report from
Am I reading a report from the court of Mr. Justice Cocklecarrot?
Just had to look him up.
Just had to look him up. Quite possibly his sort of thing.
The thing that interests me is if this article had appeared in the DM or DT, how many readers would think “Good for you mate! Bloody cyclists”.
Life often imitates art, but can be even more ridiculous.
What is happening with the
What is happening with the Manchester assault?
If pushing someone off a bicycle on to sand is GBH with intent, isn’t pushing someone into water attempted murder?
Just asking.
Yes, I was thinking the same.
Yes, I was thinking the same… obviously the social status of the parties is often more important than the crime itself, for the judges.
Well, it’s obvious that this
Well, it’s obvious that this poor little man was threatened by this super fit, buff cycling enthusist, racing down the FOOT path, endangering everyone! It was all he could do in the face of this menacing situation! I’m surprised that he never mentioned that this athlete threatened his helpless, pregnant wife and his little pup wildly swinging her ulock at them! What else could he have done after she launched herself into the canal —- he HAD to get away from this maniac!