Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Victim of Crime (but which one ?)

Following on from my blog about assault recently (here) - can anyone tell me what the scumbag in the following incident should be charged with ?
"I was cycling along a main road, very much "in the zone" when a car overtook me and the passenger leaned out of the window and yelled in my ear - hoping to make me fall off and damage myself in a vaguely amusing way."
It seems clear to me that some kind of assault happened, even though no actual damage was done, but I'm not actually the right person to make sense of this because :

(a) I'm a Magistrate and not a legal expert

and

(b) Because I was that cyclist, and my instinct would be to sentence him to a good kicking by the roadside. This is not a something the Sentencing Guidelines would approve of.

3 comments:

Trevor Coultart said...

Section 5 Public Order? "Disorderly behaviour?"

Would only warrant a fine at maximum.

Mike1727 said...

As a fellow cyclist a good kicking is an easy punishment. In reality someone got put away for 33 months (is that all) for clipping a cyclist with his car, leaving him for dead, then pretty much perverting the course of justice to cover up. Should've been done for attempted murder, imo.

Stan said...

Thanks Trevor - The Americans have "reckless endangerment" which seems to cover this situation nicely. As far as I know we don't have an equivalent.