Motorist vs. cyclist: the eternal struggle caught on tape

While it definitely wasn't cool of the driver to kick the bike, the cyclist was a fucking moron for trying to throw his bike on the guy's car. I'd've dislodged some of his teeth as well if he tried to pull that shit on my hood.

Wow you are a tuff guy ryan. *>

The motorist will now have thousands in legal bills for his assault on the cyclist. This is good---maybe the next bully creep will think twice. (including tuff guy ryan-lol)

I'm just saying, it wasn't cool of the driver to kick the bike, but retaliating by threatening to cause a few grand in damage to the hood of someone's car is just as stupid.

Would you stand idly by if someone didn't just say he was gonna pull that crap, but actually tried to? The cyclist had the gall to say he had no idea why the motorist would do such a thing. It's easy; he was provoked, plain as day.

Not saying it makes it right, though.

I agree, the driver clearly started the incident and therefore holds the lion's share of the blame in my book, but the issue was seriously escalated when the cyclist went for the guy's car.

But one does not know if the cyclist was going to throw the bicycle.

If I would have been the cyclist and the guy would have punched me, that car would have had some serious dents. I am actually surprised that the cyclist held back so much. In the end there was only 1 person that was violent and that was the driver. So if somebody should be called a moron, it is not the cyclist.

BUT, the dickhead motorist was pissed because the bike stopped at a YELLOW light! First of all, he should have been able to pass the bike, there is enough room at that intersection. Second, the bicyclist was trying to not get stuck in a long intersection, can you blame him?
I would have tossed my bike on the hood too if buddy kicked my bike and freaked out like that. The only difference would have been my edge because of martial arts training - C'mon asshole motorists, try it. I know you have threatened it enough times. Everyone is a tough guy in their cars and they drive like assholes.

The actual cause of the altercation is a total prick move on the driver's part. Drivers in this city need to get over their misplaced notions about bikes being "lesser" creatures of the road. Bikes are legally classified as motor vehicles and must therefore behave as motor vehicles, meaning that they must not enter an intersection they cannot safely leave. If the driver's progress through the intersection had been interrupted by a car, this never would have happened. But because it was a bike, the driver went berserk, which is pigheaded, rude, and unspeakably dangerous. The courts should take him off the road pending counselling.

as a cyclist (g1 license owner with no car over here!), I can side with most people feeling's about plenty of dickhead motorists. I almost get run over daily on my ride to work.

Gotta wonder now, though, if the video missed a little bit of the beginning. The cyclist already said he has no idea why the motorist went nuts on him, even though he tried to throw his bike at his hood/window. Maybe the motorist honked and yelled at him (as they are often apt to do) and the cyclist turned around and kicked the front of the car.

Not saying it's a given, but considering what I can take from the "full" video, and the lack of clear audio between the two guys, I'd say the motorist doesn't deserve more than an aggravated assault charge.

ryan says:
"Would you stand idly by if someone didn't just say he was gonna pull that crap, but actually tried to?"

you betcha---I try not to tangle with violent mf's. Then I would make sure he had enough legal, insurance and personal problems to last the rest of his life.

no kidding---I am vindictive but not stupid. I like my car, my bike AND my teeth.

Yo. Ryan. The Cyclist was not trying to throw the bike on the car.
The driver is unfit to drive.

My turn to speculate.... they're both to blame. While the motorist is clearly a violently insane jerk, the cyclist did appear to motion rather aggressively with his bike. To me, it looked like he was going to lift and toss his bike, at which point the motorist went berserk.

anyone remember this article from the National Post last year?

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/sports/story.html?id=84bda22b-c3b8-4b7b-a8c4-5ff6a76d76bb

Ryan, how come you assume he was going to throw it on the car? He could have just been lifting it so that the asshole would not kick it again.

I don't think assaulting someone is a good response to them damaging your property after you were the person to start in with violence. You and the driver here both need help. He should have his license revoked.

That's an interesting article, Jeremy. I have seen a lot of these 'infractions' by cyclists, including not yielding for passengers when getting off streetcars. It seems more innocuous to get hit by a bike than a car, but getting hit by a bike still hurts a hell of a lot. It would seem like a good idea to fine cyclists and pursue them as aggressively as we do car drivers IF we actually gave them the space on the road they desired. But her comment about righteous vegans of the road kind of hits a special spot for me...haha. I was once called a 'bad driver AND a bad person' by a righteous vegan in those awful awful bike pants (sure they may be practical but gawd when guys where them it's really uncomfortable for everyone else) when in fact I had done nothing wrong. Sort of made me want to punch his teeth out.

Someone call Rob Ford so he can tell us whose fault this is.

This is what doesn't make sense to me...

The driver was so pissed off because he got caught at a red light, instead of zipping through the yellow light. So, because he was in SUCH A RUSH, he gets out of the car and starts a fight with the cyclist, who was simply following the rules of the road??

How does that make sense?

Even if the cyclist did threaten to chuck his bike on the hood of the car, the driver threw the first punch and started the violent action. He's a psycho. Plain and simple (in my mind).

Drivers need to get the EFF off their high horse and make room for us cyclists. Seeing shit like this scares me, and enrages me at the same time.

No, no, no. You guys don't understand. The cyclist MAY have been being offensive with his bike, he may have just been trying to move his bike away from being kicked again. We have no way of knowing, therefore the cyclist should be held partially responsible. It's simple logic.

On a non-sarcastic note, seeing the cyclist's reaction to the initial assault leads me to believe he is not a violent person. He tried to get away and keep his distance. Not really fitting the description of someone with enough balls to throw their bike onto someone's car.

"I was once called a 'bad driver AND a bad person' by a righteous vegan in those awful awful bike pants (sure they may be practical but gawd when guys where them it's really uncomfortable for everyone else) when in fact I had done nothing wrong. Sort of made me want to punch his teeth out."

Its your problem if you are uncomfortable looking at someone with tight shorts, how the heck could you know the rider was a vegan, and shouldn't you be ashamed for wanting to punch someone's teeth out because of a few words?

It gets more interesting.

"They've now made an arrest and the suspect is almost as surprising as the footage itself - he's a cop.

Constable Darius Tierman, a 21-year-veteran of the Toronto Force, has been on leave since October 2004. He turned himself in to 52 Division on Wednesday morning and made a brief court appearance at Old City Hall later in the afternoon."

http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_10838.aspx

WOW. It was a cop?! This story takes an interesting twist....

I bet he would have turned himself in regardless of the widely broadcasted images of himself and his license plate.

Wow. A late-act plot twist!!

Matt,

You mean to say that bicycles are vehicles, not "motor vehicles." Most bicycles don't have motors :-)

But I second the comment. I have many times experienced cases where a motorist got extremely angry because I, on a bicycle, was blocking him or her when a another motorist in exactly the same position would have caused exactly the same delay and not have been treated in this way. Somehow many motorists in this city (indeed, in North America) feel that, despite their legal status, bicycles are not "legitimate" vehicles and so cyclists need not be afforded the same basic respect usually afforded to fellow motorists. It frankly makes me sick.

Some less healthy people commenting too!
Maybe we shouldn't let males drive until they're 30 or have kids. Prejudiced? yup.

Not only is the guy a cop but he's on three years leave for beating someone up. Darius Tierman is also seeing a psychiatrist about his anger problems.

Why is this guy still a cop...It's Toronto, why ask.

Has he been collecting his salary while on leave...it's Toronto, so YES.

Will this guy still be a cop after his criminal conviction...it's Toronto, so Yes.

'Toronto, Where the Criminals Where Badges'

wow---so he turns out to be a cop. here's hoping Tierman goes down hard.

For my two cents, I think it definitely looks like the cyclist was at least "threatening" to throw his car onto the guy's hood.

That doesn't, of course, merit a punch to the face and losing a tooth.

So a cop with "RAGE" issues assaults a cyclist who rightly stopped at a yellow light - what kind of sentence will he get? Hmmm... that drunk driving cop who hit a pedestrian back in December and fled the scene, lied about how he'd damaged his car, and only turned himself in when other cops were on to him, got house arrest and community service.

So - can we assume that that means this cop will get a pat on the back and a "well done!"

Just what we need. Cameras everywhere. People are idiots! Go ahead, take away all our freedom and basic rights. You all who are for camera's will see.

driver/cop=dickhead. That's it, there's no debate here...he got out of his car and attacked this man who was guilty of nothing more than OBEYING the traffic rules.

If it wasn't this cyclist, this creep would've just unleashed on someone else at some other point in time. Note to car owners/drivers....YOU DO NOT OWN THE ROAD. By attacking this cyclist, the driver is basically saying, how dare a guy on a bicycle get in MY way on MY time on MY road when he should know I am way more important than he is. After getting punched, I would'e loved to have seen the cyclist put this a-hole on his ass.
Car drivers should hope cyclists don't start packing guns.

Good God, I'd swear some people here are at best mildly retarded and at worst Certifiable Queen Street residents; sort of like our Official fucking nutjob in question Darius 'Right Hook' Tierman.

There is no proof whatsoever the cyclist was going to "cause thousands of dollars of damage" - and even so, this line of arguement is so laughably ridiculous as an excuse for such incendiary violence I don't know whether to laugh or cry that some people honestly believe it, and the sad state of affairs it reveals society to have arrived at. There is no mention from the SEVERAL onlookers that he "kicked his car", threatened him first, or whatever crazy scenarios being conjured up here to justify this assclown's behaviour. Damn right I'd lift up my bike as a defense against some maniac charging towards me too.

How INCREDIBLY lucky this so called "officer" was that he happened upon one of the TINY HANDFUL of guys in this city that wouldn't have kicked the holy living shit out of him, and handed his ass back to him by putting him squarely in a hospital bed.
I commend this man, (who by the way looks big enough to have possibly done so) for following the rule of law, showing OTHERWORLDLY restraint, and his exemplary good nature even afterwards.

Considering what some of these people are up to, maybe our tax dollars should be used not so much for adding more cops to the force, but for getting more of the fucking crazy ones off of it. Not that that helped this guy from loosing a few teeth.

C.O.M. in the T dot O.

Know an asshole? See sendahole.com

Ultimately, you could break this down and simply ask yourself this...of these two guys who are out and about in the public, which one would you feel safer around?
If you mistakingly moved in front of one of them in line at say a coffeeshop or restaurant...with which one do you think you'd have a better chance of it NOT turning into some kind of confrontation?
The cyclist who didn't even fight back, or an ex-cop who gets out of his car and starts wailin' on a cyclist, who doesn't fight back.
The public can at least be thankful this ex-cop has yet again exposed his aggressive nature and been caught so that maybe something can be done. Because if it wasn't this cyclist, it would've been someone else, somewhere else at some other time...basically, this poor cyclist took one for the team (and he handled himself quite well).
The ex-cop may be thankful that the cyclist wasn't a black-belt or carrying a knife or a gun.
We can also be thankful that this was caught on tape and this problem of 2 Wheels v. 4 Wheels can get more attention. We all have someplace to go, and we're all just tryin' to get there.

I'm curious, "Me" (if that is your real name), how on earth would you possibly justify claiming that schoolkids doing a video project represents a contravention of the driver/criminal's rights?

To add to my above post...let's take this incident a step further hypothetically, public street, public sidewalk, an elderly person, or a child walking down the street and ends up in the middle of this or gets shoved into a picture window or another passing vehicle? One more thing to be thankful that there wasn't any "collateral damage" because this moron ex-pig decided it was HIS day to own the road.

Ryan, you goof, the driver was the aggressor when he got out of his car and came after the cyclist. Some nut shouting and coming after you and you expect him to not do anything?

First, it was not OK for the this driver to attack the cyclist. I drive every day, and I see all kinds of bad drivers, real jerks. But, the cyclists in this city are real ass**ls, 90% of them . Let me tell you, cyclists do not respect traffic rules. They don't signal, they run like crazy between cars, without warning they jump on sidewalk, then back on the road, the on a crosswalk. Even worse, cyclists frequently, and I mean VERY frequently, don't obey red lights, nor stop signs, nor all way stop. They go in the opposite directions on the road. During the night many of them don't have ANY lights on their bikes. So, don't tell me the crap about the road rage. Cyclists need to be thought a lesson, a BIG ONE, in any way possible.

I'm back biking after my usual winter hiatus - and so the dangers of the road are a little more obvious...I agree with Karr - not being specific to the case above, but generally, motorists, cyclists AND pedestrians can all share responsibility for dangerous actions and habits. Cyclists not signalling, passing me without dinging their bell, cutting me off and cycling on the wrong side of the road are the biggies, also pedestrians walking out without looking and motorists who are obviously in a big hurry, or who block bike lanes forcing me into traffic. Generally, I think if you (motorists, especially but also some cyclists) are in a huge rush - don't drive in the city or leave your house earlier. City living involves patience - whether your driving, biking or even taking the TTC. Motorists - if you don't want to share the road with others - move to a small town. Cyclists - a little consideration on a bike goes a long way with fellow cyclists and motorists. Now will the city please hurry and finish the Dundas work so all the motorists and cyclists aren't squished onto College St?

"Even" taking the TTC? Definitely especially taking the TTC! Oy. It's a mystery why we don't have "transit rage" more often.

Comment reads: "The Ursula Franklin students, who were at Queen and Bay on a field trip (ironically, one dedicated... " ...What exactly is ironic? Seems more fitting, or coincidental to me.

Did you just Morisette my use of irony? :)

Oh, Thanks! Really interesting. Big ups!