Police officer apologizes for cyclist collision comments

A Toronto police spokesman has apologized after comments he made regarding a fatal cyclist crash were labelled “victim blaming” by safety advocates.
Const. Clinton Stibbe told Metro and other media outlets the cyclist was travelling at a high speed and did not “approach the area with enough care.”
But under Ontario law, the victim — riding in the right-hand lane next to parked cars — had the right of way, a fact Stibbe later acknowledged in a mea culpa on Twitter.
“I was wrong. Cyclist had right of way, didn’t have to stop for car. Other factors contributed to crash,” he tweeted Wednesday morning.
Some members of the city’s cycling community thanked Stibbe for setting the record straight, while others took to social media to admonish him for, among other things giving fuel to “the bike haters.”
Stibbe did not respond to requests for comments Wednesday afternoon.
Although he was glad to see Stibbe admit fault, lawyer and Bike Law Canada founder Patrick Brown said the officer’s comments were unacceptable.
“It sends the wrong message to the driving public,” he said. “It’s that old Rob Ford culture of saying ‘if you swim with sharks you’re going to get bit.’ It suggests cyclists are the victims of their own misfortune.”
It’s not the first time Toronto police — or Stibbe — have come under fire for how they refer to pedestrian and cyclists involved in collisions. Last month, Stibbe was criticized after he told media “impatient” pedestrians are the biggest problem at Toronto intersections.
Stibbe was also accused of victim blaming in 2012, when he chastised seven pedestrians hit on a single day in December for wearing dark clothing.
“It appears to me that there’s a culture where police automatically think or assume that the bicyclist or the pedestrian is at fault,” said Uri Samson, whose son, Tom, was killed by a hit-and-run driver in 2012.
Tom, a Grade 2 teacher at Swansea Public School and a father of two, was at the intersection of Lansdowne and Davenport when he was hit. Police initially blamed Tom and told his family he cycled through a red light.
A subsequent investigation concluded he was “stationary or at near-zero velocity” when he was hit from behind.
Uri said police never apologized.
“It was absolutely horrible,” he said. “Police should hold their tongues and wait until they can report something that’s true, instead of just coming out and blaming the victim.”
As a personal injury lawyer, Brown said he sees a “pattern” of police laying blame at the hands of pedestrians and cyclists only to have their findings overturned.
“When they put the blinders on and look at cyclists first and cars second, there’s a tendency to see that reflected in the investigation and who gets charged,” he said. “That needs to change.”