A dog walker, who was accused of pushing a cyclist into a canal in Greater Manchester, has broken his silence.
The incident, which was captured on video, showed 34-year-old cyclist Klaudia Mitura braking abruptly in front of a couple on the Ashton Canal path as a man appeared to shout at her to ‘slow down’. Despite her protests about their dog, the man retorted, ‘Yeah, but you’re on a f**king bike.’
He then labels her ‘a f***king idiot’ before the footage shows Klaudia tumbling into the water. Klaudia, a Manchester resident, alleges she was pushed and feared she would ‘drown’ as her feet were strapped onto the bike pedals, making it difficult for her to escape.
The incident sparked thousands of comments and reactions on the Manchester Evening News website and Facebook page, with readers voicing strong opinions about who they believed was at fault. Now, the dog walker is keen to clarify his side of the story.
The 35-year-old from Dukinfield, who requested anonymity, denies pushing Klaudia and insists she clipped him with her handlebars. In an interview with the MEN, he explained: “I was out with my girlfriend who’s 26 weeks pregnant. We were walking down the canal, as you do.
“A lady came down at a ridiculous speed. I thought she was going to hit my missus and my dog. I thought my family was in danger.
“She’s carried on to ride towards me. Then she’s clipped me with the handle bars and she’s gone into the canal. I didn’t push her.”
Klaudia, a mother-of-two who was on her regular bicycle journey to work, said she feared she might have perished as she is unable to swim.
She said she stood on a stone and remained in the waterway for five minutes until a pedestrian noticed her and assisted her out.
The machinery operative, who hails from Poland, alleges that the pair did glance back to verify if she was alright or if she was drowning.
Nevertheless, the man she has accused of shoving her into the canal refutes this and insists that she did not seem to desire his assistance.
He said: “After it happened, I turned around. I said to her ‘are you okay?’ She told me to f**k off.
“She was stood up. She wasn’t stood on a rock. The canal was waist high.”
He added: “She was totally in the wrong. I’m just a normal working guy like anybody else but at the moment I’m just being slandered.”
Greater Manchester Police are investigating the incident.