asmac

Ottawa woman says she was assaulted for cycling 'too slow' - Ottawa - CBC News

CB HI

To bad she did not mace him, he deserved a prompt and proper lesson.

bakes1

The hate continues

Moe Zhoost

Definitely not cool, but hardly an "assault". She had every reason to be offended and the guy needed to be smacked (or maced). Labeling him a criminal is a bit over the top.

wphamilton

Unwanted touching is criminal assault in many jurisdictions, including Ottowa. If found guilty, the man is criminal.

FXjohn

maybe she had an attractive, slappable butt though?

asmac

That would do the trick but she'd end up in jail for possessing (and using) a prohibited weapon.

SHBR

If the roles were reversed, this wouldn't be news.

It does suck having to deal with unwanted physical contact though.

This kind of thing happens daily on crowded subways and busses in many large cities in Asia.

NYMXer

I see a lot of those and just put my head down and pass them, but the thought of just tucking behind and drafting for a few miles sometimes enters my mind.
Thinking about that slappable but is one thing but acting on it is just wrong. Some are more tempting than others but head down, pass and move on.... as hard as that might be, lol

rumrunn6

all the more reason to oppose an abusive self absorbed misogynist pig

dynodonn

Bad enough in getting harassment from motorists towards cyclists for being too slow, even worse from another cyclist.

JoeyBike

An attractive female roadie friend of mine got a smack on the lycra-clad bottom by a passenger in a passing car while she was cycling at the Lakefront. She told the cops. The cops threw her bike in the truck and with her in the passenger seat they found the car, and the passenger parked along the lakefront. Car owner, and passenger left in handcuffs. This is considered an assault same as getting punched in the face where I live.

On the other hand...what if an old man like me got spanked by a passing motorist and then told the cops? I can almost assure you they would laugh at me. And I would probably spend the entire day riding in circles hoping it would happen again.

Anyhoo...this should be considered assault same as throwing a soda bottle out the window at someone. The cyclist in the story is an idiot and needs a ton of community service hours to make up for that nonsense. And then he WAITED for her to catch up???
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wphamilton

Stopped at a light. Evidently she wasn't all that much slower than he was after all - he just wanted to slap her butt most likely. He probably thought she wanted to flirt or something

JoeyBike

He couldn't have been in that much of a rush. Like the tortise and the hare. Perhaps we could start up a mirror argument about this too? And remember the good ol days of the "frame pump"? Just think if she had a nice Zefal HPX frame pump to put a wrinkle his skull with after catching up.


Image Credit: Nashbar
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FBinNY 

An inappropriate act, but an even more inappropriate and disproportionate response.

We should simplify the criminal code and add a catchall infraction for "miscellaneous being an *******". It should draw a $100 fine and stern lecture from a judge, maybe combined with some sensitivity training or community service.

My point is that we need something between condoning or ignoring this kind of stuff, and criminalizing it.

Otherwise people have to realize that there are all sorts of idiots out there, and the law can't protect everyone form everything.

RidesaJapanese

I think her feminism was triggered by his misogyny. Before long whistling at them will be a crime.

bakes1

Seriously.
And what is so hard to comprehend about being slapped in the ass?
Freaking drama

B. Carfree

A friend of mine, when in her twenties, looked like an athletic version of a super-model: tall and very attractive. One fine day, she was riding along on a road that is popular for cycling but sees very few cars. When she looked in her mirror at the car that was about to pass her, she saw the passenger's hand out ready to slap her ass. She deftly grabbed her frame pump (back then we didn't use velcro to hold them in place) and beat the hand/arm/face of her assailant. The driver then accelerated away laughing at his wounded passenger.

She had a couple more such encounters, including one where she fled to a farmhouse and ran inside, before she gave up cycling for good. After a decade of riding everywhere she went, including long tours and a 50-mile round-trip commute, she just gave it up rather than continue to be harassed for the "crime" of being an attractive female.

I don't have any problem with labelling the people who assault women as criminals and I don't think such people should be allowed to roam freely without ankle monitors.

eff-J

If he really did say she was riding "too slow", she should've called the grammar police too.

howsteepisit

Yes, this one is more about a sexual assault than assaulting a bicyclist. I really struggle to find an appropriate punishment for this type of behavior though. Not liking vigilante justice, my first thought that a broken arm for the assailant fails, but to label him a sexual predator for the rest of his life seems too extreme. I guess I'll error on the side of violence and say she should have broken the offending limb with a pump, club, branch, or handy tire iron.

jon c. 

The sexual predator laws in the US are totally absurd. Which renders them useless for the intended purpose.

But it is simple battery and should be prosecuted as such.

asmac

They were busy arresting a pedant.

indyfabz

But to constitute assault in this part of the world, it typically has to be intentional, not the result of something like inadvertent contact with someone on a crowded subway, which also happens every day in the U.S. Try riding the L train in NYC when it's crowded.

SHBR

There is no shortage of assault on Chinese subway trains.

WATCH: Foreigner slaps Chinese man on subway for trying to steal his phone: Shanghaiist

WATCH: Chinese patriot attacks man for wearing Nike shoes after South China Sea ruling: Shanghaiist

WATCH: Pervert scolded, slapped and shamed for filming up ladies' skirts inside Shanghai Metro: Shanghaiist

WATCH: Woman claims couple knocked iPad out of her hands, so she knocks over their baby carriage: Shanghaiist

gregf83 

I was 'assaulted' by a waitress at a restaurant the other day when she put her hand on my shoulder. Should I have broken her arm too?