Police in Toronto are facing questions for intense takedown efforts to stop a cyclist who allegedly blew through a stop sign on the city’s waterfront.
A video posted to social media appears to show a cyclist near Bathurst Street and Queens Quay, near Little Norway Park, being tackled to the ground by multiple police officers who were stopping and ticketing people failing to obey a stop sign.
In the video, the cyclist appears to complain he’s in pain as more officers rush over to restrain him.
Lawyer Dave Shellnutt, who runs a firm specializing in defending cyclists, said the police response was disproportionate to the situation.
“This is a Highway Traffic (Act) matter, you are not supposed to use force in this situation,” he told Global News. “It was really scary to see multiple officers lay upon a fellow cyclist.”
The video garnered more than 170,000 views on social media by midday Tuesday and appears to have been recorded by another cyclist who also rode past police.
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The camera pans to the side to show a bicycle on the grass verge and two Toronto police officers crouching beside it. A third runs over to join as they appear to restrain a male figure.
“I’m hurting, I’m hurting,” the cyclist appears to shout as the officers crouch over him.
Police said the incident happened on Sunday evening, when they tried to stop the cyclist, but claimed he sped past them, allegedly shouting at them.
“Officers directed the cyclist to stop,” police wrote on social media.
“The cyclist proceeded through the intersection at a high rate of speed and shouted a profanity at officers as he passed. A second officer again directed the cyclist to stop; however, the cyclist refused and attempted to flee from police.”
Shellnutt said the approach was excessive.
“If there’s a car that’s speeding and trying to get away from police, they are not supposed to engage in a pursuit,” he said. “They have other means to track this person; let them go. Alert the officers up the road.”
Toronto police said they’d set up to catch cyclists failing to stop at the sign after complaints flooded in.
“The Division had numerous community complaints regarding cyclists failing to obey the posted stop sign at the intersection,” they wrote.
Investigators said the cyclist in the video was arrested and faces three provincial offence charges.
— with files from Global News’ Victoria Femia
Kinda funny the reporters don’t show any cars going through the stop sign. About 90% of cars only slow down to biking speed at stop signs. Of course it’s only those 10% commenting here. I salute you.
Stop means stop. Went through a stop sign and then failed to obey the police officer telling him to stop. Cyclists somehow think traffic laws don’t apply to them. This entitled behavior is dangerous and needs to be stopped.
When the police attempt to pull you over in your car and you don’t stop after they pit maneuver you they’re going to pull you up by your hair. Cycle is don’t get any special treatment. You disobeyed a peace officer. Put a bandage on your knee and stop your whining
Do not bend to pressure from people/comments about how terrible police acted regarding this situation. Maybe we should just ignore and refrain from any and all police control of ROW safety measures, they can’t catch everyone. Don’t disregard safety measures and it couldn’t be more obvious than this incident. Has anyone considered the actions of the cyclist ?
Easy solution. You want to be a car, act like a car. Cars can’t run stop signs. Anyone here who thinks this is not a big issue in Oru cities is a cyclist. Unpredictable, never follow the road rules but demand the rights of the road. Even easier, stop at the stop signs, lights, yield signs and everything else cyclist blow through every single day. And don’t pretend you don’t.
Maybe Sammi should read the article. The danger was not to just cars, but to the high number of pedestrians that share this mixed use trail and that cross this street. There are numerous videos of collisions and even fights between pedestrians and cyclists here. This trail was poorly designed, modeled after San Francisco’s Embarcado. MAMILs doing time trials have no regard for pedestrians in this area, or within High Park, or in The Exhibition Grounds.
Next up please ticket cyclists illegally passing streetcars on their left, cycling onto head on traffic in rush hour.
the law is the law. hes lucky they didnt george floyd his …!
There are real crimes being committed elsewhere, and I’m skeptical to believe it transpired the exact way it was described. Until I see a video of his bike “blowing through a stop sign” I’m going to say this never happened.
Many cyclist slowly roll through the stop sign if there is no intersecting traffic, almost to a full stop, so they don’t have to unclip their shoes’ cleats from the pedals. As a driver, this poses zero danger. There are real crimes elsewhere.