Dunedin handcycle assault: Arrest over alleged attack by e-bike rider

A wheelchair-bound handcyclist was left shaken after she was kicked in the face by an e-bike rider. Photo / Oscar Francis

A Dunedin wheelchair-bound handcycle user left shaken after she was twice kicked in the face by an e-bike rider said the incident happened “out of the blue”.

Speaking to the Otago Daily Times while waiting for police to arrive, the woman said she was cycling near Ravensbourne when the alleged assault took place about 1.30pm.

An e-bike rider had overtaken her earlier but she had not thought much of it, although she knew the rider was aware of her because she saw him checking over his shoulder when he slowed down.

The attack came “completely out of the blue,” she said.

“All he said was ‘don’t f..... overtake me’. There was no argument, no conversation, and no comments. I was just behind him ...” She said.

The man deliberately put his foot out and kicked her in the face.

She swerved, but he came up and did it again.

His third kick broke her cycle’s chain guard.

“I just have no idea what was going on in his head,” the handcyclist said.

The only explanation she could think of was that the man was upset that a pedal-powered cycle was going faster than his e-bike.

The incident left her uninjured, but shaken and hesitant to ride.

After the incident, the man carried on and was arrested by officers about 20 minutes later, on Anzac Ave.

Police arrest a cyclist who allegedly kicked a wheelchair-bound handcyclist twice in the face. Photo / Gerard O'Brien

The woman said she had been riding on roads and cycle paths for many years.

She said truck drivers had always been extremely considerate.

“You hear them slow as they come up behind and they’ll put their indicators on - not because they need to but because it tells the person behind them they’re passing something low to the ground,” she said.

While some Dunedin car drivers could be abusive, nothing had prepared her for being assaulted on a cycle path by another cyclist - “for no reason whatsoever”.

Police were unable to say last night if charges had been laid.