Leah's story

Leah is the Toronto bicycle courier involved in the infamous scuffle captured on camera by photographer Adam Krawesky. She gave her side of the story on Spacing Wire. According to Leah, the paint scratch on the SUV occurred when the assailant pushed her against his vehicle. She did not deliberately key his truck.

I was WALKING my bike up Augusta when the incident took place. He was driving and opened his door (while driving) and yelling profanities he threw his beef patty on a bun out of his door. I walked over to his car, and right or wrong, I opened the door and “gave” him back his food (which he MUST have dropped by accident!) He then lost it, and jumped out of his car and threw 2 large Timmies at me then grabbed me by my helmet and tried to toss me around a bit. It was at that point that my bike lock key (that I wear on a bracelet around my wrist) scratched his car.

Then with some “encouraging” from some helpful bystanders he got in his car and drove away…or so I thought! People were comming up to me and saying that I should have him charged but at that point I just figured I had made my anti-littering point and and eye for and eye with the coffee shower, I mean I did throw that patty right. But just as I was getting on my bike to ride home he came running back and that's when the photos start. He had driven half a block and decided that the scratch was worthy of a more thorough beating I guess.

And as for the police charging him…. He took off in his car as soon as he heard the sirens. They chased him down but it is not a crime to leave the scene. They were going to charge him with a variety of things including assult with a weapon x2, mischief x2, aggravated assault, etc, but the police informed me that if I went ahead and placed those charges then they would have to charge me with mischief for the scratch.

Tags: toronto, bicycle, messenger, courier, assault