Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: PhilRich on 05 June 2012, 22:21:13
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Myself & Swmbo were involved in the aftermath of a vigilante attack today :o
Driving through town we came upon an Astra slewed across the pavement & a cyclist laid flat out still entangled in his bike frame with one leg at an unnatural angle through the front forks. There were two men present, neither taking care of the cyclist & one, who turned out to be the Astra driver pacing back & forth in a highly agitated manner shouting & muttering in turn. After checking the cyclist for Vitals, visible wounds, possible neck/spinal injury etc, we covered him with blankets & placed one under his head to make him comfortable as possible, and I had to jam my right hand, palm open between the cyclists spine & the rear gear cogs & wheel spindle to keep them from sticking in him. We then had to await the Police & Ambulance. The other guy had been travelling behind the Astra & told us it had been following the cyclist & suddenly cut in front of him across the pavement & mowed him down! :o He then had to stop the driver from assaulting the cyclist ???
The Astra guy was very clearly high on drugs & or drink and extremely agitated & erratic and kept screaming,"He's a Paedophile, i've made a Citizens Arrest, you're all my witnesses." The single Policeman who arrived on scene first was a very impressive guy, had the scene sorted quickly and very professionally, definately the kind of bloke I would want on my side in any hairy situation :y
In no time at all, we had two Pandas, one Paddy Van & a Traffic car in attendance! there must have been a lull in activity in town! ;D The downside was there were no ambulances available for twenty plus minutes & when it did eventually arrive it was called immediately to a more urgent job! A free ambulance eventually arrived after 35 minutes & they too did a splendid job & with our help disentangled the guy from the bike frame & had him on a spinal board & away to hospital in short order :y
The upshot of all this was the Astra driver said he had seen the cyclist watching some kids playing in the street & had seen him "licking his lips" ??? and had run at him screaming obscenities at which point the cyclist rode off very quickly (no shit, sherlock! that's what i'd have done too! ::)) The guy had then jumped into his car and gave chase until he had the opportunity to catch up, at which point he knocked him off the bike with the car! It turned out the cyclist had left his disabled wife at home while he popped out to buy cigarettes & a couple of videos & on the way home the carrier bag had split & he had stopped so as not to lose its contents, at which point the assailant had put the fear of god into him & he 'legged it'!
Now put yourself into the cyclists position, what would you have done in his place?
Now put yourself in our position, stopping to help at an accident scene & being told the injured party was a 'Paedophile', what would your reaction have been? Would you have taken things at face value, given the injured guy the benefit of the doubt & helped regardless? Walked away & done nothing? or helped the Astra driver in giving him a good kicking?
I've often thought and said that I would take the Law into my own hands given the provocation, but today's incident has given me much food for thought. A man is lying in hospital tonight because someone high on drugs/drink or both made a snap diagnosis of what he thought he saw & acted impulsively. He could just as easily have been stone cold sober & made the same misjudgement. That's why Vigilantism is Outlawed & why i've changed my view on the matter. :(
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Personally I wouldn't be judge and jury. I'd of done what you did. Assisted in the immediate situation. TBH the guy in the Astra was a chicken. If he had been man enough he would of sorted face to face and not use his vehicle as a weapon. As in this case the cyclist was innocent. It's not down to the general public to jump to conclusions and especially when they have nothing more to go on than a cyclist stopped in a public place. I'm often in places with lots of children. I have two of my own because of this current climate of shoot first, question later I have found myself hanging back when I've seen a young lad/lass hurt. I really do fear one time I'll hang back from helping and a young soul may not see another sun rise.
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Firstly well done to you and Sylvia for stopping and assisting :y :y sounds like no one else had such forethought...... :(
The rest is sadly typical of SOME people these days, don't know what to add tbh, without writing an essay..... ::) ::) ::) I make such decisions, and have done, on evidence, not the say so of some drunken / drugged up low life........ :( :( :(
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Interesting method of conducting a citizens arrest ,drive after him and deliberatly steer into him . ::)
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There's no need reply to Phil's post in detail other than saying that he is quite correct in his concluding comments.
Vigilantism seldom - if ever - solves any perceived problem and will invariably, if practised unchallenged, cause many more problems that those its protagonists set out to solve.
Well done in rendering assistance Phil, many wouldn’t have bothered their arse. :-*
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Let's just hope the Astra driver gets done for attempted murder as that's exactly what he tried >:( And admitted he waited until he had chance to ram him so it was pre-meditated >:(
Well done Phil :y
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Let's just hope the Astra driver gets done for attempted murder as that's exactly what he tried >:( And admitted he waited until he had chance to ram him so it was pre-meditated >:(
Well done Phil :y
Agree with all of that :y :y
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Very well done Phil - and yes, would have reacted likewise meself. ;)
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After serving in the forces.... friend or foe, if they need medical attention, you gave it.... enough said!
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Superb work on your intervention Phi you did the right thing. Not all forms of analgesia (pain relief) are pharmacutical. Psycological anagesia works just as well, distract him from the pain by talking about other things can work just as well believe it or not. Physical analgesia, such as you did by putting your hand in the way, is the third type. Maybe you missed your calling as a paramedic?! ;)
For what he did, the guy deserves to be locked away for a long time, but because our justice system sees cylists in some way to blame for being killed and maimed by motorists (I assume just by having the gall to be obtuse and use the same road space as a motorist) and he will get a slap on the wrist and be told not to do that again.. what a naughty boy!
Phil, for your actions, from a medic and a cyclist, you have my eternal respect :y
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Handy being a medic and a cyclist Matt, you can treat yourself when folk knock you off your bike ;D
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Some excellent action you took there for the cyclist :y
I guess you only have what the Astra driver says as proof, may have been something else that triggered the rage, cyclist jumping a red or something :-\
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Handy being a medic and a cyclist Matt, you can treat yourself when folk knock you off your bike ;D
;D ;D ;D ;D outstanding - a quality quip. 8)
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Let's just hope the Astra driver gets done for attempted murder as that's exactly what he tried >:( And admitted he waited until he had chance to ram him so it was pre-meditated >:(
Well done Phil :y
Agree with all of that :y :y
Agreed +1 :y
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Well done Phil, most people these days would have driven round the cyclist, had a good gawp, and then driven away without a care in the world. It takes guts to stop and help when you don't know what you're getting into :y
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I recall about 10 yrs ago hearing a commotion over the garden wall, looked over to see a man had been punched to the ground and the assailant leaving the scene. Me and mum went to the guys aid but he died later that day in Hospital.
He had alledgedly took advantage of a young girl locally and her brother was the aggressor, it later transpired no such thing had occured. Fortunately we didn't end up giving evidence as he pleaded guilty.
He received 18 yrs for being a vigilanty and the chap in the OP deserves a good sentence too >:(
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Superb work on your intervention Phi you did the right thing. Not all forms of analgesia (pain relief) are pharmacutical. Psycological anagesia works just as well, distract him from the pain by talking about other things can work just as well believe it or not. Physical analgesia, such as you did by putting your hand in the way, is the third type. Maybe you missed your calling as a paramedic?! ;)
For what he did, the guy deserves to be locked away for a long time, but because our justice system sees cylists in some way to blame for being killed and maimed by motorists (I assume just by having the gall to be obtuse and use the same road space as a motorist) and he will get a slap on the wrist and be told not to do that again.. what a naughty boy!
Phil, for your actions, from a medic and a cyclist, you have my eternal respect :y
Yeah, well done Mr Phil. :y :y :y
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Handy being a medic and a cyclist Matt, you can treat yourself when folk knock you off your bike ;D
;D ;D ;D ;D outstanding - a quality quip. 8)
Yeah its a combination that's well up there in the irony stakes ;D
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Superb work on your intervention Phi you did the right thing. Not all forms of analgesia (pain relief) are pharmacutical. Psycological anagesia works just as well, distract him from the pain by talking about other things can work just as well believe it or not. Physical analgesia, such as you did by putting your hand in the way, is the third type. Maybe you missed your calling as a paramedic?! ;)
For what he did, the guy deserves to be locked away for a long time, but because our justice system sees cylists in some way to blame for being killed and maimed by motorists (I assume just by having the gall to be obtuse and use the same road space as a motorist) and he will get a slap on the wrist and be told not to do that again.. what a naughty boy!
Phil, for your actions, from a medic and a cyclist, you have my eternal respect :y
Are you perchance claiming that no cyclist is ever at fault?? :o
I have personally witnessed cyclists:
- riding at night with no lights, and wearing dark clothing
- riding on the footpath (one even had the nerve to ring his bell at me when he rode up behind me as I was walking to work - although I suppose I should be thankful he had a bell on his bike as -)
- not having a bell or other warning device
- ignoring red ATS and pedestrian crossings
- riding the wrong way down one-way streets
- riding on the main carriageway on a busy 60mph limit road when there is a seperate cycle lane running along the side of the road (not illegal I know, just stupid, imo)
A couple of years ago a lad was riding his bike at speed along the footpath not far from my house, when he got to the corner at a T-junction he shot straight out into the road in front of a car. I suppose that was the car driver's fault too?
Too many cyclists behave as though they are not subject to any road laws.
BTW, I am a cyclist, motorcyclist and car driver, obviously not all at the same time...
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There's some shocking vigilante video's from south America and south east asia all over the net
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>snip<
Too many cyclists behave as though they are not subject to any road laws.
BTW, I am a cyclist, motorcyclist and car driver, obviously not all at the same time...
The vast majority of cyclists are moreso... "bike users" - they have no interest beyond getting from A-B, and 'dangle berries' to anyone else. The same applies to car drivers, IME. The golden rule - treat everyone else on the road as if they are going to kill or seriously injure you - not through malice, but through incompetence...
In this situation, I'd have done exactly the same - restrain the aggressor if necessary, so as to be able to take care of the cyclist without him intervening. I must admit, whether at work or not, there's always a fleeting moment of "are people going to think I'm peedling" before I kick into autopilot and do what has to be done to help... but it hasn't stopped me helping yet.
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??? phew .. interesting
Well done Phil.. :y
it proves quick decisions and judgement can lead to disastrous results.. :(
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djac and GK, I hate those types of cyclists as much as you. But the fact of the matter is that if you follow the rules of the road and ride defensively you still get knocked off your bike either deliberately or by accident. The second most saddening fact is that the police are completely NFI about cyclists getting hurt. I was deliberately rammed off the road by a van driver once in Sheffield and I practically landed at the feet of two police officers, they pretty much walked over me to carry on with their beat.
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Some excellent action you took there for the cyclist :y
I guess you only have what the Astra driver says as proof, may have been something else that triggered the rage, cyclist jumping a red or something :-\
RTFP Tunnie... The Astra driver gave his reasons ::)