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Statue of Justice, Old Bailey (licensed CC BY 2.0 on Flickr by Ronnie Macdonald).jpgCyclist who assaulted disabled driver jailed for 16 months
A cyclist who assaulted a disabled driver during a road rage incident in Scotland has been jailed for 16 months.
Ian MacMillan, aged 29, attacked 59-year-old Thomas Johnstone after the driver beeped his horn at him in Sauchie, Clackmannanshire, reports The Times.
Kristina Kelly, prosecuting, told Stirling Sheriff Court that MacMillan threw his bike to the ground in front of Mr Johnstone’s Mini Countryman car and began yelling and swearing at him after the motorist was reported to have had to “stop abruptly.”
Mr Johnstone, who is deaf and unable to talk, needs a machine to help him breathe and has a tube in his throat as well as a number of pins in his arms and legs as a result of injuries sustained in a road traffic collision, was then said to have “alighted from his vehicle and utilised his walking aid by waving it in MacMillan’s direction.”
The pair wrestled with each other after MacMillan grabbed the walking aid, and Mr Johnstone fell to the ground, with the tube in his throat becoming “forcibly dislodged,” and the MacMillan then punched him, knocking off his glasses and hearing aid, which he then kicked down the road.
“Mr MacMillan was still acting in an aggressive manner,” Ms Kelly continued. “Mr Johnstone got back into his car and drove towards where Mr MacMillan was standing with his bicycle. Due to fear of being struck by the vehicle, Mr MacMillan jumped onto the bonnet.”
He also jumped on the windscreen, causing it to crack, and was then arrested by police who had been alerted to the incident, in which Mr Johnstone sustained minor injuries, by witnesses to it.
In mitigation Roberto Manini said that MacMillan, who pleaded guilty to assault under provocation, believed that Mr Johnstone had been about to hit him with his walking aid.
“This happened during the pandemic,” Mr Manini said. “It was almost as if Mr MacMillan was paranoid all the time. It’s his perception of reality that’s the problem.”
Jailing MacMillan, Sheriff Derek Hamilton said: “This was an appalling piece of behaviour involving a disabled person.”
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.
Latest Comments
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Well, it is humanity's defining characteristic: better get used to it.
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Fair comments. I'll put my hands up and say I got the wrong end of the stick with this one. ¡Feliz navidad! Here's a pic for the season of goodwill.
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19 comments
Cyclists don't have brake lights but that doesnt stop drivers from getting too close to stop in an emergency. Someone with that amount of disability seems to be a risk to others if they are unable to stop in an emergency without getting aggressive. An attacker got out of a car, waving a weapon at the victim (how is the victim supposed to know it's a walking aid if the attacker is waving it in the air?) Victim then defends themself, pushing the attacker onto the floor and walks away. Attacker then gets in car in order to use it as a weapon against the victim, who is flung onto the bonnet cracking the windscreen. Victim is then jailed for 16months because attacker is registered as disabled. Only when the victim is a cyclist does it become clear why this judgement was made.
Some more details here:
https://www.alloaadvertiser.com/news/21798578.clacks-man-jailed-assault-...
"Mr Johnstone's injuries amounted to "a small scuff on his ankle", and being "sore and stiff".
The opening in his neck, where his stoma tube, normally taped in place, had become dislodged, was red and tender."
Pretty ridiculous sentence for no permanent injuries. The charge was "assault under provocation", suggesting some culpability on the part on the victim.
What I find more bizarre is that the Sheriff appears to have sentenced to custody immediately, without calling for social reports, which I thought was a big no-no these days. A killer driver found guilty gets infinitely more consideration. Hopefully McMillan appeals the sentence, at least.
The Scottish "justice" system is a cesspool (I live in Scotland).
Pretty shit defence solicitor. Calling his own client irrationally paranoid when independent witnesses stated it appeared that Mr Johnson did try to hit the cyclist first with the walking stick. Although it then appeared that MacMillan probably over reacted too much which is why he was charged with and accepted the guilty plea.
I'd presumed that it was in reference to it being the height of Covid, and 'irrationally paranoid reaction' meant a cry of "Keep your distance from me!"
If you take disability out of the equation then two idiots were involved in road rage...
Add in the disability and the cyclist is a monster...
Analyse the disabled person's actions and they got out of a vehicle (fair play with all those pins) and threatened the cyclist with a weapon then following a scuffle drove their car at him!
Seems like someone got a get out of jail free card along with that blue badge!
Roads are bad for mental health. Stay at home, folks!
Have to admit I thought that too.
"Something" happened which caused the motorist to have to stop suddenly; they hooted their horn (in anger?) and the cyclist lost his sh!t.
The motorist got out of his car and waved his walking aid (stick? zimmer frame?) at the cyclist. I don't imagine that heated words were not exchanged.
They "wrestled" (?) and then the motorist got back in his car and drove it at the cyclist.
The cyclist took evasive action (no doubt still 'in the heat of the moment') and damaged the motorist's car.
If the motorist had not had a blue badge, then this would be a case of serious road rage with (probably) both parties at fault. The motorist has been treated differently because he is "disabled".
Hang on - is that discrimination?
I do remember a poster on here stating it would be ok to get your punch in first as it is self defence if you think you were going to be smacked first even if you hadn't been. Although there is obvious differences in Scottish and English/Welsh laws so maybe that explains it.
an old friend of mine (retired senior scottish cop) once advised me, if you are going to hit them, hit them once very hard and make it count, as it is harder to claim self defence for multiple follow ups. I am sure he also reckoned that this could be first strike if you feared an assault was imminent.
I'm not in Scotland but I've seen a person die after being hit by a single -albeit very hard- blow. Down immediately and never got up again. Over where I am, the action has to be proportional to the threat and you would have an exceedingly hard time explaining such a first strike against an unarmed opponent. Case in point, the assaulter got a partially suspended custodial sentence and was very lucky that the judge (no jury trial) didn't dwell long on the testimony of a forensic expert who talked about the tremendous force required to explain the injuries he found. I was at the trial as a witness.
For the case discussed in the article, I'm not astonished that a judge took a very dim view of a 29-year old presumbly healthy cyclist throwing his bike in front of the car, then attacking an obviously 59- y/o invalid, even when the latter is waving a cane.
Scotland does appear to have self-defence too: https://crime.scot/self-defence/
If you use physical force in self-defence it is not assault. The difference here is the accused pleaded guilty to assault. So it was just a matter of sentencing.
While our instincts and experience often encourage us to see the cyclists side, the pleading guilty bit is pretty important.
Maybe on legal advice, but he accepted his guilt. If so, I am not sure why I would want to defend him in these comments.
We also need to take 'in mitigation the defence said' as it is primarily a bit of spin. Same in all the cases with drivers covered on this website and other news outlets.
Anyway often cycle through Sauchie, so will watch out for 'tooting' cars!
Pleaded guilty on "assault with provocation" which was accepted. I don't believe anyone is defending the cyclist, just wondering that with the reported* facts, how come the other party doesn't seem to be charged with anything. Surely driving your vehicle at the person instead of away from them is also "assault with provocation".
*Obviously not all details from the actual case might have been reported in the same way it was presented.
The quotes from his defence lawyer would seem to suggest that he probably didn't get the best legal advice.
Same struck me, sounds like defendant was probably advised to plead guilty to effectively get off. (That worked!) Perhaps should have plead not guilty on grounds of self defence. Brief sounds like a half -wit.
Was it Lionel Hutz, perhaps...?
“This was an appalling piece of behaviour involving a disabled person.”
I think I'd agree...leaving the car, threatening with a walking stick, driving at a person on foot causing them to jump on the car bonnet to avoid getting run over...remind me who the defendant was in this case.
Bloke just flipped after one close pass to many.
This story does not really make sense