A man has been convicted of assaulting a cyclist during an altercation in traffic when the cyclist’s backpack was pulled off him.
The motorist claimed the cyclist had shown him the “middle
finger” gesture after a verbal altercation between the pair.
When the driver was then stopped in traffic further up
the road, he got out of his car and tried to grab the cyclist as he rode past.
Motorist Timmy Long, Churchfield Green, Churchfield, Co Cork,
pleaded guilty to assaulting Steffan Liebig on May 8, 2018, at Hollyhill Lane,
Cork.
Judge Con O’Leary told Mr Long that even if he felt
somebody had disrespected him, that was not an excuse for what he did.
“We all have people treating us rudely on the roads but
we don’t go and pull them off their bikes,” Judge O’Leary said.
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He imposed a sentence of 200 hours community service on
Mr Long as an alternative to four months in prison and told him to pay Mr
Liebig €500 compensation.
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The court was told that Mr Liebig was cycling to work via
Strawberry Hill on the day in question when he saw a car being driven close
behind him.
He said he felt intimidated by this and the driver
continued behind the cyclist onto Hollyhill Lane before passing him when the
road widened.
At that point there was a verbal exchange between the
cyclist Mr Liebig and driver Mr Long.
A little further up the road, when Mr Long was stopped,
he got out of his car and tried to grab by Liebig as his cycled by, causing his
backpack to be pulled off.
Mr Long claimed he had gotten out of his car to check if
it had been damaged. He added he called to the cyclist to stop and when he didn’t
he grabbed him and did not intend to assault him.
Mr Liebig said when the incident happened he did not fall
off his bike but had struggled to stay upright.
The court was told Mr Long felt disrespected as he said
the cyclist had shown him the middle finger gesture.
While Mr Long had previous convictions - two for assault
and six for assault causing harm – a Garda witness said these dated back many
years and the positive change in Mr Long’s behaviour since then was significant.
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