Police inquiry after cycle/road rage allegations

The Dom Post report:

Labour MP Trevor Mallard has been caught up in a police investigation into an alleged road rage incident in central Wellington.

Mr Mallard says he was forced to defend himself from a driver on Willis St who drove through a group of cyclists then hit him with a bag.

“I very nearly fell off my bike from this guy jumping out and swinging his bag at me,” he said. “I got my foot out of the [bike] pedal because I thought I was going to fall off and there was contact between my foot and his bag.”

The car’s occupants laid a complaint against Mr Mallard, but police would not give details of the complaint. They confirmed they knew of an incident but would not say if charges would be laid.

Now I know some here will automatically conclude Mallard must be in the wrong, but I would advise people not to jump to conclusions.  First of all in my experience many motorists are very inconsiderate around cyclists. Secondly, the eye witnesses back up Trevor on what happened.

Mr Mallard said he had been riding with a bunch of cyclists on Wednesday morning and was on the way back to Parliament about 8.10am when a car drove through the group “and got comments from a few of them”.

A man then got out of the car and swung a bag at Mr Mallard.

When asked if he hit or grabbed the man, the MP said: “No, I defended myself against him. I didn’t touch him at all.”

When asked if the man hit him, he said: “Yes, he did hit me with his bag.”

Mr Mallard said there was shouting from both sides over the incident, and he rode off.

I would be surprised if the Police charge anyone, if the reports of what happened are accurate. I would say that most blame lies with the motorist who got out of his car, if the facts are correctly reported.