PEDAL PUSHER
Infamous cyclist who kneed girl, 5, in back and knocked her into snow WINS lawsuit against her dad over viral video
A CYCLIST who went viral after ploughing into a five-year-old girl has won his court case against the youngster's dad for sharing footage of the incident online.
Shocking video showed the cyclist sticking his knee out and knocking the girl over onto a snowy path in Baraque Michel, Belgium, on Christmas Day 2020.
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Her dad, Patrick Mpasa, was filming his family on their walk and captured the incident.
Footage shows the youngster, dressed in an all-in-one pink outfit, walking carefully along the icy track beside her mum when a cyclist comes up behind them.
Instead of waiting for the girl to move out of the way, he goes down the side, and just as he comes alongside her he seemingly deliberately puts his leg out.
His knee then strikes her in the back - sending her flying onto the snow-covered ground.
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Mr Mpasa said he had chased after the man, who has not been named publicly, and managed to make him stop but the rider was remorseless.
Furious Mr Mpasa then posted the footage on social media and asked viewers if they agreed he was right to make a complaint to the cops.
The cyclist was later ordered to pay just €1 in compensation and handed a suspended sentence on the grounds he had already been criticised enough on social media.
But the family believed that if it had been an accident, the man would have stopped to check that the child was okay instead of just speeding off, which was why the dad posted it online.
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He said that he was not seeking revenge but wanted to share the images on social media to "raise awareness" about dangerous situations.
But the cyclist has now successfully sued Mr Mpasa for posting the now-viral footage online, reportedly on the grounds that the backlash the video received made him feeling so threatened he was afraid to leave his house.
He previously demanded €4,500 (£3,911) in compensation, equal to the value of the bicycle he claims he can no longer use.
A court will determine in April next year how much compensation he is entitled to.
At the time of the incident Mr Mpasa said: "A lot of people tell me that I should have hit him, but I don't agree and in any case, I was in front of my children which would have made things even worse for them. I also don't want a witch hunt, I just want him to apologise."
The local cyclist Association GRACQ, which saw the video, at the time described the man's behaviour as "unacceptable".
They said he had an obligation to prioritise weaker road users, which in this case was the people walking. He said this also applied to nature reserves.
The organisation said they understood that cyclists do not want to have to stop, but that did not justify knocking the child over.
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