"Assault" from a Car

[disrail]

After a gruelling 50 miles chaingang round trip in full racing attire, i was bonking, legs dead, dizzy head.

A car passed me and the passenger hurled something like a large orange or apple, that struck my neck and bounced off without breaking. All 3 white male occupants laughed and carried on.

I did get the registration of the car though. I carried on to the lights up ahead and they weren't stupid enough to get stopped by the lights, taking an ample side road escape route.

After the incident I carried on, only 3 minutes from home. I wasn't angry, wasn't bothered in the slightest, "God, am I in shock?" I asked myself, then became really worried that I'd burst out in tears when i got home.

The tears never came, so I mulled over whether it was worth phoning the police. Mr Wows escapades made the process seem glamorous enough that I thought I'd give it a try, plus the bastards laughed at me.

Merseyside police took the incident very seriously . I tried to say that I know it may seem a triffle, as there was unfortunately (or should that be fortunately) no injury, but they said "Not at all sir, it's assault."

I then tried to counter with the fact that they probably couldn't do much without a witness, but again, they said that they could definitely follow it up.

The woman took descriptions of the men in the car, gave me a reference number and said someone would contact me within 24 hours to arrange giving a full statement, result!

Liverpool is a lovely place to visit. This happened in the posh student area. I'd previously cycled through the gun ridden ganglands of croxteth and had no issues.

[Julian]

I've always found gun-ridden badlands fine (I go through Acton and Harlesden on my way to work), pisspoor driving from unlicensed uninsured idiots but not usually deliberate.  The gun toters have better things to trouble the law with than throwing apples at cyclists.

In the green suburban idylls of Ealing, by contrast, I've collected a half-brick (missed), a spud (missed) and an egg (direct hit )

Well done for getting the numberplate. 

[Wowbagger]

Hopefully they will continue to take the incident sufficiently seriously that they will interview the driver. I was assured that, even without witnesses, that report goes on file and my influence the police's decision to take a future incident more seriously than they otherwise would have done. In addition, the driver might say something which incriminates wither himself or a passenger.

[Polar Bear]

Assault and battery from the occupants of a car, not from a car.   If you;d like to pursue a civil claim give me a PM.  I'd be happy to help you claim just retribution.

[teethgrinder]

I've always found gun-ridden badlands fine (I go through Acton and Harlesden on my way to work), pisspoor driving from unlicensed uninsured idiots but not usually deliberate.  The gun toters have better things to trouble the law with than throwing apples at cyclists.

In the green suburban idylls of Ealing, by contrast, I've collected a half-brick (missed), a spud (missed) and an egg (direct hit )

Well done for getting the numberplate. 

Poor people driving cheap cars without insurance or tax tend to be carefull and try to avoid any police attention that they could do without.
But the rich can afford to play with their expensive toys.

[clarion]

Seems that you are allowed to use a vehicle to assault someone, but not an orange.

I hope you get a good result from this. Merseyside Police sound like they have a good approach.  Perhaps they could teach the Met a few things.

[Charlotte]

In this sort of case, always report it, always pursue it.

The faster you can call the police (yes, on 999 - it's a crime in progress) the faster they can react to it.  I had a hot cup of coffee lobbed at me by a WVM's passenger last year and the coffee hadn't drained off the road by the time I'd got my phone out.

Within a few minutes, a police car was dispatched to my location and they started a drive-round to locate the van.  Although they didn't find it, they said that they would be visiting the registered owner's address to have "a word" and although they could only really prosecute if the driver was dim enough to incriminate his passenger, the incident would stay on file against that registration number as mentioned above.

I got a follow up call a few days later to explain what had happened (a visit, but not surprisingly, NFA).

If you're able to provide the police with a number plate, description (vehicle and occupants) and a coherent summary of what took place, you'd be surprised how good they can be.

Top tip - on calling 999, you should first explain that you have been the victim of a crime which has just taken place. 

[clarion]

Further to Top Tip - don't mention that you've been on a bike until you know you're being taken seriously </lesson hard learned>

[iakobski]

Assault and battery from the occupants of a car, not from a car.   If you;d like to pursue a civil claim give me a PM.  I'd be happy to help you claim just retribution.

Assaulted from a car by the occupants.

/pedant

[Polar Bear]

Assault and battery from the occupants of a car, not from a car.   If you;d like to pursue a civil claim give me a PM.  I'd be happy to help you claim just retribution.

Assaulted from a car by the occupants.

/pedant

    

[ed_o_brain]

I had milk thrown over me by the passenger of a white van. Plod was at the roadside but unfortunately missed it all. I gave plod detailsand a couple of hours I got a phone call to inform me the van was wanted in connection with an armed robbery. I didn't hear any more.

Someone tried to run me off the road, then chased me. I escaped up an alley way. I dropped by the police station on the way home. The Seargeant I spoke to explained the police already had an interest in this vehicle and fully intended to throw the book at the driver when they caught up with him.

I've had the absolute opposite experience though. I had a severe overtake and turn left. The woman culprit seemed out of it. After her left turn, she took a right turn, drove to the end of the street (still visible to me, I walked the rest of the way home as I was too shaken to ride), made the most appalling maneouvre to turn the car around and then drove off.

I called plod as despit my verly loud shouts of "stop turning stop turning stop turning" she seemed completely unaware of what was going on. My gut instinct told me there was something wrong. The first officer I spoke to was like

Officer: "was anyone hurt"
Me: "no"
Officer: "Good day to you then sir"

I patiently explained it was only due to my experience that a serious collision was avoided and a information marker needs recording against the vehicle just in case this is not an isolated incident. The officer still wanted to end the matter there.

So I I then said I wanted to press charges. The officer then took my details and gave me an incident number. A local plod then phoned me back to arrange for a statement to be taken. I patiently explained to the local plod what had happened, and I all I wanted was for someone to check firstly that this woman was okay and fit to drive, and secondly that an information marker was recorded for the vehicle just in case it came to their attention again.

Second plod agreed whole hearted that this is what should happen.

[Raph]

There are umpteen reasons why cops give up on cases - sometimes they can see that there just isn't enough evidence and it won't come to anything so not worth wasting effort. However, logging the incident is still worthwhile and costs nothing. I once got smashed into by a car doing probably about 40mph - the (almost definitely drunk) woman drove off without stopping, I got half the number plate by which she was traced, but she wouldn't come out to talk to cops till the next day, when it seems she was still so drunk that even though paint from her car had been scraped off my skin - it had gone through the fabric of my trousers - she maintained that I'd been walking on the pavement pushing the bike along... not realizing that would incriminate her somewhat more.

I was taken seriously until a certain copper heard my surname - "Mizraki" - sounds a bit like "Iraqi" and a bit of research shows it to be Jewish, not the sort of thing they're fond of up in York - I never heard from them again and as far as I know she got off scott-free. I traced her myself and went to agree some meagre compensation with her - just damage to the bike, which was mercifully just the cost of a back wheel and a rack, but a copper advised her not to settle with me. The A&E report of a calf muscle crushed like a steak under a falling anvil didn't count for anything.

I don't know if it's the funky foreign name or the "cyclism", but I certainly didn't get any redress for that particular encounter. Sometimes I get a bit bloody-minded and start to look kindly on militant cyclists. If you can't get justice you get political and aggressive. It's not good but it's hard to avoid. Many conflicts around the world are like that, and none of them end happily.

[urban_biker]

That's just crazy Raph and really bad luck.

Sounds to me like you need an insurer to fight your corner. Do you have household or CTC type insurance that will support your damages claim? Even if no - it might be worth joining CTC in case something similar happens again, at least that way you have someone who will initiate a civil claim to get you reasonable damages.

[fuzzy]

Raph,

In cases like yours, I encourage the victim- you in this case- to take the matter up as a complaint against Police. I would expect a complaint if I conducted myself in that manner.

[bikesdontfloat]

Sometimes the police response does seem a little random.

I'm currently trying to decide whether it is worth the bother of going down to a police station to pick up an accident self-reporting form to report something that happened on Friday.

As the car in question slowly edged alongside me before deliberately steering into me to push me out of the way it doesn't really seem to qualify as an accident.  However, it would seem that unless I fill in the form the police are planning to do sweet fa (which I accept is quite possibly what they will do once the form is filled in).

[peanut]

if you had been walking it would probably have been taken more seriously . Its an inescapable fact that cyclists are viewed by most authorities as a bloody nuscience at best .
Me?,....I'd trace them from their reg and get some compensation.

[disrail]

I went into my local police station yesterday with the reference number to give a statement.

The poor officer behind the desk seemed run off her feet. People were coming in to sign their daily bail things.

She was really good. Took everything really seriously, never gave the impression that she thought the matter was trivial, or that I was over-reacting.

I indicated that I beleived it was important for statistics, and that I'd like the driver to be spoken to.

But when she was asking whether I would be willing to attend court and whether I wanted to be informed of any arrests that had been made, it made me uncomfortable.

In the end it might not get to that stage, plus I'm just reporting a crime that has occured, and if there is enough evidence or an admission of guilt, then it's upto the CPS to decide whether it is worth proceeeding with.

I agreed to it all and they'll be informing me of any progress.
Result

[fuzzy]

But when she was asking whether I would be willing to attend court and whether I wanted to be informed of any arrests that had been made, it made me uncomfortable.

I agreed to it all and they'll be informing me of any progress.
Result

That is a very important question which, if the answer is no, will greatly reduce the liklihood of an investgation. Support from the victim or witnesses is very important in being able to progress things.

[disrail]

UPDATE:

It seems like my experience has been totally different to Raph's. Reading about his incident makes me almost feel embarrassed about what is a completely trivial encounter compared to his. Anyway,


I've had a few calls from the local plod. They followed up, found the driver and spoke to him. He admits there were 3 people in the car and that they were on the same road on the same day as the incident happened. However, he said he can't remember any fruit throwing fun, and gave the name of the front seat passenger.

The front seat passenger was arrested for questioning and given the option of a caution if he pleaded guilty to the offence of common assault. He said he did not partake in any fruit throwing fun, so the police forwarded the case to the CPS. The CPS decided there was enough evidence to prosecute and so he has been charged with common assault. He will go to court and if he still doesn't plead guilty, then it may go to trial........

Even this level of interest in the case baffles me. I wanted to report it as a statistic, and so the driver and passenger might be spoken to. Now a 19 year old student has been charged with assault for probably only a little more malice / stupidity / hijinx than BPOABs snowball incident. I suppose he did have the option of a caution but decided to gamble that they wouldn't take anything further.

[Wascally Weasel]

I suppose he did have the option of a caution but decided to gamble that they wouldn't take anything further.

He was gambling a lot more with your health and well being when he assaulted you (without knowing the potential outcome).

[Noodley]

I got a witness citation in the post a couple of days ago in relation to an incident last summer when I was assaulted whilst cycling.  There are comedic elements to the incident, as I got hit on the back with a dead fish.  There was another cyclist who encountered the same actions a short time before I did and he is still injured as a result of it.  It took a bit of speaking to the right people on my part to get it moving along...which annoyed me.  I reckon it was only because I knew how the system worked that the matter was progressed.
 
On the more positive side I know the sheriff and the procurator fiscal, who know I am not the kind of person to make an issue when none is to be had.  I shall be having a word...

[Rapples]

You shouldn't feel guilty

UPDATE:

 and given the option of a caution if he pleaded guilty to the offence of common assault. He said he did not partake in any fruit throwing fun,

Yes, it was probably only intended as a bit of fun on his part, but if he had told the truth and owned up, there would have been very little consequence for him, which would have been appropriate.

It is the fact that he thinks he can lie his way out of it that will possibly get him a criminal record and that will be entirely his fault

[Jethro]

I am often overtaken by cars that then immediately turn left and often forcing me to brake sharply to avoid a collision (what planet are they from?).

About 2-years ago, the above happened, but then I realised that the road that the driver had turned into was a dead-end and so I took chase.

I had somehow managed to calm down a little by the time I arrived outside the house that the driver had parked outside and had already exited from the vehicle.

On seeing me, the driver got back inside the vehicle (a woman) and locked herself in (she obviously knew what she had done!).

I tried to explain to her what she had done, but then she started to blame me by saying I should not be cycling on such a busy road!!!

She then finally got out of the vehicle and told me to F*** off, which got me more angry again.

I then grabbed her keys and informed her that she could collect them from the nearest police station but might need to explain why I took them in the first place.

I then cycled to the police station about 2 miles away and handed them in but by this time I couldnt be bothered to make a statement and heard nothing more.

I was pleased to have inconvenienced her enough to have to make her way to the police station to retrieve her keys though. 

[Snugsy]

I've always found gun-ridden badlands fine

I live in a gun-toting badland (St Ockwell). Never any trouble from the gun-toters. And most of the drivers are predictable.

[LEL]

I went into my local police station yesterday with the reference number to give a statement.

The poor officer behind the desk seemed run off her feet. People were coming in to sign their daily bail things.

She was really good. Took everything really seriously, never gave the impression that she thought the matter was trivial, or that I was over-reacting.

I indicated that I beleived it was important for statistics, and that I'd like the driver to be spoken to.

But when she was asking whether I would be willing to attend court and whether I wanted to be informed of any arrests that had been made, it made me uncomfortable.

In the end it might not get to that stage, plus I'm just reporting a crime that has occured, and if there is enough evidence or an admission of guilt, then it's upto the CPS to decide whether it is worth proceeeding with.

I agreed to it all and they'll be informing me of any progress.
Result

I have bee to court as a witness / person making  a complaint (relative to an ASBO being granted)
It was simple, relatively straightforward and I received a great deal of support from PC Plod - the only drwback was havng to hang round court for ages while a case in front finished.
(actually it wa three visits - crown, family and juvenile courts....)

Have  every belief in yourself - it is unfair to expect the police to carry out prosecutions  if you pull out halfway through - and they are more likely to treat cyclists seriously  the next time one comes in to report an incident.
 A court cse result is far more powerful than a statistic....