Viich

CTV - Man Beats Cyclist with club

I don't even know what to say about this.

CliffordK

This is the new world of smart phones that we live in. No just jumping out of one's vehicle and beating on someone and expecting to get away with it. Expect that everyone has a camera, mic, and video recorder. And, we'll likely see more prosecution of similar assaults.

It sounds like the beating followed an argument about left turns. I can't imagine any argument about right-of-ways that would result in a physical confrontation. The notes seem to indicate that the driver was clearly the aggressor in physical violence. But, I'd argue that both people need to cool down in similar confrontations before it escalates to violence.

asmac

Shocking. Peterborough is a nice, generally peaceful little town in rural Ontario and I'm glad the lunatic driver didn't have a gnu or a knife or a bigger club.

And Clifford, nice of you to be fair-minded but when a 74 year old man is on the ground being straddled by some big guy beating him with a club I'd say the identity of the aggressor is pretty clear notes or otherwise.

I had an incident last week when some 60 year old guy wanted to fight me (i.e. my age though smaller!) when I berated him for clipping me with his mirror. As it happened I pushed his door closed and cycled away. He tried to follow but I know the area better than him and evaded him down some laneways. My takeaway is to restrain myself in future though it's easier said than done when the adrenalin is flowing.

Myosmith

And again . . . WTF is wrong with people?

SylvainG

Did the aggressor had his victim's blood on his forehead or was he cut during the altercation? If it's a cut, what lead to the cut? Was he attacked first? Still doesn't justify beating a 74 years old with a club...

CliffordK

I didn't mean there was anything remotely appropriate with hopping out and beating someone with a club.

But, there are also ways to de-escalate tensions without violence. Especially since the 70 yr old without a club will lose.

asmac

Got ya. And based on my own experience I can only agree.

hay

Just who, drives around with a club? I'm from Texas and I don't know anyone with a club at ready.

bobwysiwyg

Perhaps lack of access to mental health-care.

SylvainG

Why carry a club when you can carry a gun

Mack3601

Canada

Daniel4

Doesn't the US Constitution give guys like this the right to bear arms? He's certainly bearing his arms alright. What's not in the Constitution is his right to drive.

Where were the good guys with the clubs?

canklecat

Ugh. Pickup and SUV drivers are the worst. And I say that as a pickup driver.

Being a Texan, I always expect trouble from older pickups and SUVs with windows open in summer. No a/c, so the driver is hot and irritable. Probably leaky exhaust so they're suffering borderline carbon monoxide poisoning, which makes 'em irrational. That's mostly because so many rural areas have minimal inspection standards so the exhaust systems get a pass. I personally know several folks who've experienced exactly these symptoms, leading to road rage from heat and CO poisoning.

Add to that an outsized sense of entitlement and machismo arrogance because "Ahm a workin' man, ah work for mah money, ah sweat beer for a living!" and I regard pickup drivers like I do the rattlesnakes, cottonmouths, tarantulas, skunks, deer, coyotes, owls and other potentially dangerous critters I encounter on rural rides.

I always try to avoid altercations with drivers, regardless of what they're driving. Let 'em cuss and fuss. As long as they stay in their vehicles I don't care.

No idea what that Canadian fellow's excuse was. But if my Canadian friends represent their nation fairly, that pickup driver needs to resign from Canada and move to Texas where he'd fit in nicely.

You must have a remarkably civil circle of family and friends. I was born in Texas and have lived here most of my life. Almost everyone I know carries some kind of a weapon, even when they pretend it's just a "tool".

The steering wheel locking device not-so-discreetly named "The Club" was never intended to be just an anti-theft device. It was always intended to serve double duty as a bludgeon, as were all the similar devices sold in auto supply stores and truck stops. Ditto those "tire thump" clubs carried by many truckers. And those shorty baseball bats labeled "For breaking windows in case of emergency". And those long handled massive shank screwdrivers and unnecessarily long and stout wrench handles left conveniently in the floorboards of so many vehicles, by drivers who haven't a clue about how to actually use those tools.

Myosmith

or maybe he's just a raging a**h**e

I'm all for better mental health care in the US and Canada but I'm not in favor of using mental health as a blanket excuse to avoid personal responsibility for one's actions.

genec

Yeah, most just keep a tire iron at the ready...

KonAaron Snake 

Sometimes you just don't have letting it go in you. You're right of course, but very few people are always rational.

chaadster

That was an interesting club. I think it must have been rubber. I mean, the way he was wailing on that dude's head, were it wood or something similiarly solid, I don't thing the beaten guy would have gotten up and said, "yeah, I'm alright."

Oh, and don't Google "rubber club" if you've got an aversion to gay fetish sex!

Cyclist0108

The bullies of the road.

All I have to do is drive in my Toyota Emasculator minivan, and it brings out the hate.

Samuraidog

I think it was a fish billy club. Apparently that area of Canada has a lot of fishing, so the guy probably gets away with carrying it because he "uses it to go fishing."

Also, the blood on the aggressor is likely from the cyclist. It will be interesting to see if this guy does any time for that assault.

Milton Keynes

Makes me more and more convinced that I should be carrying some sort of pepper spray on my bike. Where I live people are generally accepting of cyclists, but you never know when you're going to run across an aggressive a-hole having a bad day. Plus I've come across too many loose dogs to think that a little protection is a bad idea.

FBinNY 

This is the core of the issue.

There's no point in trying to make more of it than a jerk with zero impulse control.

Yes, there was some sort of incident ad/or words that lead up to it, but for normal people it would have ended with words, and maybe some gestures. At the worst, the guy could have made his point by stomping on and destroying the front wheel.

But impulse control seems to be fading in western populations, maybe because of pent up frustrations, or some other factor for sociologists to debate, but I expect that we'll see more of this kind of stuff long before anyone can offer a rational explanation.

bobwysiwyg

No intent here to excuse anything. I think you misunderstood my point.

rydabent

That thug needs to spend a good deal of time in jail. He better hope his cell mate doesnt fall in love with him.

wphamilton

Good use case for carrying pepper spray and/or pocket taser. I mean more for the bystanders who could have stopped the assault and taken custody of the guy until the police arrived.

Myosmith

Self-control is a dying art