Neon Riders<\/a> are a group of cyclists based downtown Toronto who are known for leading weekly rides in the summer, accompanied by LED lights and music. The group is highly popular, gathering about 30 to 80 Torontonians per ride.\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019m the one who comes up with the route, and I\u2019m very careful\u2026We stay well away from heavy traffic. We usually use side roads or bike paths, and we don\u2019t go very fast at all\u2026So, we also do not get into a lot of altercations with cars,\u201d Neon Riders\u2019 leader Steve D\u2019Silva told Now Toronto.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, on Aug. 29, 2024, the group was stopped at a spotlight north of Davenport road, when a blue car allegedly pulled up behind them, and suddenly accelerated, hitting a few cyclists.\u00a0<\/p>\n
D\u2019Silva, who was upfront leading the group, said he didn\u2019t see the initial impact, but heard the commotion as the driver allegedly tried to drive off.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, this is where a number of the cyclists then just surrounded the car and made sure she couldn\u2019t get away. So, as you can imagine, it was pretty chaotic,\u201d he said. \u201cI called 911, and we waited a good hour and a half before the police came.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to the group\u2019s leader, officers then appeared at the scene, and went straight to the driver, without asking the cyclists for their version of the story. They later detained and charged two of the cyclists with Uttering Threats, before releasing them on a Promise to Appear.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis police officer never asked us for our side of the story, and just seemed to decide what to do, from simply talking to the driver and deciding just to let her go, and based on that, just to handcuff and detain two of our cyclists,\u201d D\u2019Silva said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
LAWYER SAYS PROSECUTORS IGNORED EVIDENCE<\/p>\n
Biking lawyer David Shellnutt, who represents the cyclists, said that the driver allegedly omitted from police that she had hit the group, claiming they \u201cout of nowhere swarmed her car and threatened her.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The bikers were later able to present a video of the incident to the prosecutor on the case. However, Shellnutt says the evidence was simply ignored, as the prosecutor insisted on pushing the case.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite that video evidence contradicting what the driver said to police and the prosecutor, he decided to continue with the charges. There\u2019s no evidence whatsoever from anybody on scene, and even in the video evidence, that my clients threatened her at all, you\u2019ll see that, in the various video angles,\u201d he said to Now Toronto.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou see one of the cyclists get back up and take pictures of her car, but he doesn\u2019t go to the window, and he doesn\u2019t threaten her. And then the other cyclist gets up and heads back to his marshaling duties to keep people safe and make sure that other cars don\u2019t come in and hit people.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Shellnutt, the prosecutor later said he would be proceeding to trial, unless the cyclists would plead guilty to the charges, which they refused. After over one year of court appearances and back-and-forth, the prosecutor eventually dropped the charges months before the scheduled trial date.\u00a0<\/p>\n
CYCLISTS FILE COMPLAINT AGAINST POLICE<\/p>\n
The group is now in the process of filing a complaint against the police officers involved in the case, which Shellnutt says will be on the grounds of officer misconduct and negligent investigation, as well as anti-cyclist bias and bringing the group\u2019s reputation into disrepute.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201c[The cyclists] had, thankfully, minor physical injuries, but the act of being run over by a motor vehicle and then blamed for by police and prosecutors has an incredible emotional toll that has sort of been perpetrated against these two folks that they\u2019re experiencing to this day,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, D\u2019Silva says the incident has also affected Neon Riders\u2019 trust towards police.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a discussion within our group after that if this happens again, we shouldn\u2019t call the police, because now a lot of our riders just don\u2019t trust the police, so we\u2019re thinking maybe just get a license plate letter, and then call it in later on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A Toronto Police Services (TPS) spokesperson told Now Toronto officers \u201clay charges when there are reasonable grounds to do so,\u201d but said they won\u2019t comment further.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIn addition to the complainant, officers also spoke to a witness at the scene. Two people were charged with Uttering Threats. There were no reports of injuries to either the complainant or the cyclists,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf a complaint has been made, that process will need to take its course and we won\u2019t comment further.\u201d<\/p>\n
LAWYER SAYS INCIDENT SIGNALS POLICE BIAS<\/p>\n
Shellnutt says this is not the first time bikers have been allegedly treated negligently by police.\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to him, recent public debates involving cyclists have translated into the streets, leading to several other cases of police bias against cyclists.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSummer after summer, multiple officers and cruisers hang out all day, all weekend in High Park and hand out speeding tickets to cyclists. Meanwhile, pedestrians are getting mowed down in the dozens at intersections across Toronto, and you never see an officer camped out there stopping motorists from running reds or pushing cyclists on walk signs. It\u2019s a real problem that TPS has yet to address,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the lawyer hopes his clients can receive an apology from police and prosecutor on the case, and perhaps spark change.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI would like to see an apology to these two individual cyclists and the Neon Riders. They provide such a wonderful piece of joy to the community in Toronto, and for them to be targeted in this fashion and ignored when they\u2019ve called for justice is a real shame, and it should be dealt with,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want the Ombudsman in the city to really look into what\u2019s happening at the prosecutor\u2019s office in the City of Toronto.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
D\u2019Silva says that while he hopes for an apology, he doesn\u2019t believe that much will change anytime soon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cA change of behaviour would be much better, but we need something to happen in order for cyclist groups like the Neon Riders to basically trust the police,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n