A road rage teenage driver repeatedly targeted a cyclist and left him fearing for his life.
Nine times [18 year old Benjamin Harrison] almost mowed down [cyclist Martin] Melvin, aiming for him on the pavement, striking his handle-bars, forcing him off his bike into trees, threatening to kill him and hurling stones and coins at him.
The victim had no escape route and had no choice but to continue his journey on the almost deserted road, the court heard.
The cyclist in this case happened to be police inspector Martin Melvin, who was cycling home from his job at the Burnley police station last summer. He reported the assailant's car registration information. When Harrison was arrested at his parents' home, he asked the arresting officers, “Can I not just apologise?”
Benjamin Harrison's sentence: Nine months in jail, suspended for two years, with 12 months supervision and 100 hours unpaid work. He was banned from driving for two years and must pay £750 costs.
Read more in the Lancashire Telegraph: Burnley road rage teen targeted cycling police chief, via the informative and amusing Treadly and Me.
See also UK CTC encourages cyclists to report bad drivers.
I really, really hope his parents did not ask Inspector Melvin exactly the same question.
ReplyDeleteSure, he can apologize all he wants. It won't change the fact that he used his vehicle to terrorize a cyclist. It kind of sucks that these sorts of comeuppance stories only happen when the cyclist happens to be a cop because that basically means someone can harass me and get away with it.
ReplyDeleteI don't have the answers but I can definitely point at the problem and say "There it is".