Motorist and passenger mobbed in South Africa by a gang of angry cyclists.
A wise person should refrain from judging a situation before casting an opinion. But that’s often more difficult than it sounds, especially when said situation involves a group of cyclists attacking a motorist and passenger.
The video begins with one of the occupants of the van having a mild bust-up with a cyclist before things get progressively worse, escalating into mindless violence; pepper spray is used, punches are thrown and cycles are hurled through the vehicle’s windows.
According to the YouTube video description, the incident began when cyclists failed to notice a white van that had stopped in the road. Upon swerving around it, the ‘leader’ reportedly ‘flew into a violent rage’.
“The group were moving swiftly and only at the last second when the leader again faced forwards, did he see the vehicle…. Just in the nick of time. He had to swerve violently to avoid the vehicle and this obviously upset him,” YouTube user Symon Scott said of the video he had uploaded.
“I fumbled with my phone for valuable seconds and eventually got the camera going, and filmed the violence unfolding before me.” At this point we see the cyclist lift his bike wheel and launch it into the driver-side window. He then starts punching the driver and dousing him with pepper spray.
“You can clearly see how they battered the vehicle, bent the windscreen wipers, pepper sprayed the driver, tried to steal his keys, assaulted him with a bicycle wheel and punched him and the passenger in the face repeatedly,” Scott added. “There was a lot more going down than what you can see in the video.”
Scott ended up driving away from the incident because he was holding up traffic, but later returned to the van driver and passenger to offer assistance. The van was nowhere to be seen but Scott shared the video with a friend, who took the evidence to Sea Point Police Station two hours later.
The victims, who had already reported the crime, claim they were volunteer workers asked to clean up litter from the 10km Nelson Mandela Commemorative walk on March 2nd.
Cycling group Cycling South Africa said the actions of the cyclists was unacceptable and will take immediate action: “Cycling SA condemns this type of behaviour in the strongest way possible, and in no way condones or accepts this type of behaviour.”
The YouTube video ‘Violent Cyclist!!!!’ has amassed more than 130,000 views and 266 comments since it was uploaded on March 2nd. Police are said to be investigating.
Losing your temper while on the road is certainly not uncommon as our ’12 most extreme road rage videos’ round-up shows.
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