Notorious cyclist who hit five-year-old girl in head and threw her into snow wins lawsuit against her father over viral video
A BIKER who went viral after hitting a five-year-old girl has won his court case against the teenager’s father for sharing footage of the incident online.
A shocking video showed the cyclist extending his knee and throwing the girl onto a snowy path in Baraque Michel, Belgium on Christmas Day 2020.
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Her father Patrick Mpasa filmed his family on their walk and captured the incident.
The footage shows the young woman, dressed in a pink all-in-one outfit, strolling along the route alongside her mother when a cyclist appears behind them.
Instead of waiting for Neia to get out of the way, he walks along the side and just as he gets next to the girl, he seemingly deliberately extends his leg.
Then his knees hit her in the back, sending her crashing to the snow-covered ground.
Mr Mpasa said he chased the man and managed to get him to stop but the driver showed no remorse.
Angry Mr Mpasa then posted the footage on social media and asked viewers if they agreed it was right to lodge a complaint with the police.
The cyclist was sentenced to pay compensation of just one euro and received a suspended sentence on the grounds that he had already been sufficiently criticized on social media.
But the family believed that if it had been an accident, the man would have stopped to check if the child was OK instead of just driving off, which is why the father posted this online.
He said he wasn’t interested in revenge but wanted to share the images on social media to “raise awareness of dangerous situations.”
But the cyclist has now successfully sued Mr Mpasa for sharing the now viral footage online.
A court will decide in April next year how much compensation he is entitled to.
Mr Mpasa said: “Many people tell me that I should have hit him but I don’t agree and besides I was in front of my children which would have made the situation worse for them. “I don’t want a witch hunt, I just want him to apologize.”
Local cyclists’ association GRACQ, which saw the video, described the man’s behavior as “unacceptable” at the time.
They said he had an obligation to prioritize vulnerable road users, in this case pedestrians. This also applies to nature reserves, he said.
The organization said it understands that cyclists don’t want to stop, but that doesn’t justify knocking over the child.
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