Shocking video shows driver in Canada running over and dragging cyclist

A lawyer and cycling advocate in Canada says that a shocking video showing a driver running over a bike rider and dragging him along the road in what appears to have been a deliberate act reflects “the road violence that cyclists deal with every single day in cities like Toronto.”

The incident happened at around 0710 hours on Wednesday on Yonge Street in the North York area of Canada’s most populous city.

Thit happened today July 19 on north Yonge St. @TPSOperations @TorontoPolice @blogTO #BikeTO @TheBikingLawyer pic.twitter.com/D1safAGyT8

— Alex Duarte (@AlexchaeAlex) July 19, 2023

Personal injury and human rights lawyer David Shellnutt, founder of the Toronto-based legal firm The Biking Lawyer LLP, told the website BlogTO that the incident underlined the need for law enforcement officers to protect vulnerable road users, rather than pulling up cyclists for what he insisted were “minor infractions” such as riding on the footway, with police in the city having launched a blitz against such behaviour in recent days.

In footage captured by a dashcam mounted in a following vehicle and posted to Twitter yesterday evening, the driver can be heard apparently sounding their horn and swerving before hitting the cyclist – possibly a food delivery rider, given the box on the rear of the bike – from behind.

The motorist then continued to drive through an intersection following the collision, dragging the cyclist for several yards, before coming to a halt and getting out of their vehicle, looking first at the car then the cyclist, the pair exchanging words briefly before the driver got back into the car and pulled into the side of the road.

Luckily, the cyclist appears to have been thrown to one side of the car as it crashed into him and was quickly on his feet, although he was clearly in shock and seemed to be limping slightly as a result of the collision.

“Today we were tweeting about ongoing incidents of police ticketing cyclists for minor infractions,” he said, “the underlying point being that it is a hugely ineffective and misguided use of resources,” said Shellnutt, who also claimed on Twitter that there was “anti-cycling bias” held by some officers of the Toronto Police Service (TPS).

“To horrifically buttress our point, a community member shared a video with us of a motorist seemingly intentionally ramming into a cyclist from behind and driving over them,” he continued.

“This is the road violence that cyclists deal with every single day in cities like Toronto. It’s not an aberration, it’s endemic.

“It’s why we cringe and protest when the cycling community is targeted by police while motorists run rampage across the city putting all vulnerable road users at risk, daily,” Shellnutt added.

“We need a societal shift in thinking and laws that immediately revoke someone’s ability to drive when they are caught doing such horrific acts as what this driver has perpetrated here,” he added.

This happening the same day a cyclist was violently attacked at Yonge & Renleigh w a weaponized motor vehicle, not an uncommon occurrence. It demonstrates the misdirected application of resources & anti-cyclist bias amongst some at TPS https://t.co/Sb95ACkOEq 2/3

— The Biking Lawyer (Dave Shellnutt) (@TheBikingLawyer) July 20, 2023

Concerningly the officer asked if the filmer is Dave (it wasn't). Perhaps TPS now understands that regular citizens/cycling community are documenting their misguided resource allocation chasing statistically insignificant infractions as road violence by motorists remains prolific pic.twitter.com/OxVbj1QHbe

— The Biking Lawyer (Dave Shellnutt) (@TheBikingLawyer) July 20, 2023

There is a fair bit of history of tensions between police and cyclists in Toronto, and last year we reported how an off-duty police officer ​in Toronto who had been giving fines to cyclists later crashed his SUV into a rider who was cycling in a bike lane – with the cop claiming he had not seen the rider because the sun was in his eyes.

> Police officer dishes out fines to cyclists – then crashes his SUV into one in a cycle lane

There have been hopes that official attitudes towards cyclists in Toronto will change for the better after Olivia Chow was elected as the city’s Mayor last month, ending more than a decade of Conservative rule in the city, with the independent candidate pledging to create more cycle lanes as part of a Vision Zero goal to eliminate road deaths and serious injuries.

In winning the election Chow – who does not have a driving licence and was accompanied by hundreds of cyclists as she rode to her inauguration last week – beat the Conservative candidate, Anthony Furey, who had pledged during his campaign to rip up cycle lanes installed on major streets in the city.

> “Arriving like a true queen” – Toronto's “bicycle” mayor arrives to be sworn in, leading hundreds of cyclists on her first day