A group of cyclists who ride around Toronto decked in bright lights while listening to music together are filing complaints against the Toronto Police after an officer charged two cyclists after they were hit by a car on one of their rides.
The charges against two members of the Neon Riders have since been dropped after their lawyer provided video of a blue car lurching forward as the group was stopped at a red light, knocking a handful of them over as others rushed to offer aid.
“We were all in shock about this,” said Neon Riders organizer Steve D’Silva, in an interview with CTV News.
“The riders who did nothing wrong and who got hit were the ones who were punished. That obviously leaves a very, very bad taste in the mouths of a lot of our riders. But it’s not going to stop us from having fun.”
Based on the video, the incident appears to have happened in the area of Bedford and Davenport roads at around dusk on Aug. 29, 2024.
D’Silva said a blue car had stopped behind a group of a few dozen riders as they waited for a red light. Then, he said, it suddenly moved forward, knocking some people down.
“What she did was extremely dangerous. She could have very seriously injured riders or even killed someone. So, at that point, that caused a big commotion and everyone stopped and tried to help the riders on the ground,” D’Silva said.
The driver tried to drive away, the cyclists attempted to stop the car from leaving, and D’Silva called 911, he said.
When a police officer arrived, D’Silva said the officer talked to the driver, let the driver go, and handcuffed two cyclists and charged them with uttering threats.
“Obviously, there was probably a lot of swearing going on because you can imagine, you just got hit by a car… but to me that’s a very natural response,” D’Silva said.
Biking lawyer David Shellnutt said the video that was entered in court didn’t show anyone making any threats.
Shellnutt said his legal team entered it into evidence thinking the charge would be dropped quickly. Instead, it wound its way through the justice system for a year-and-a-half before the charges were withdrawn recently.
“You have a year of spent resources on a case that shouldn’t have been. You wouldn’t have any charges laid if the officer had done his job,” he said.
Shellnutt said he’s made a complaint with Ontario’s Ombudsman and plans to file an additional complaint with the Toronto Police Service.
Toronto Police spokesperson Stephanie Sayer said officers lay charges when there are reasonable grounds to do so, which is a term that means facts and evidence would lead an ordinary person to believe a crime has been committed.
“In 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,” Sayer said.
“Decisions to withdraw or stay charges are made by prosecutors and can happen for a variety of reasons. A withdrawal doesn’t mean there weren’t grounds to lay them at the time.”
Court statistics show that tens of thousands more charges in a category that includes uttering threats are being filed by police now compared to 10 years ago.
The Ontario Court of Justice says they received 80,327 cases last year, compared to 57,092 in 2015 — about 23,000 more.
About a third of the cases in 2015 were withdrawn before trial, amounting to a total of 19,078. Last year, that rose to about one half, or 38,956 cases.
Despite the extra effort, only just more than 3,000 additional charges were not withdrawn before trial in that category, from 38,014 in 2015 to 41,371.
The withdrawal rate, or the proportion of charges that were withdrawn before trial each year, appears to stay around one-third before the pandemic. Afterwards, it jumps to nearly one-half.
Ontario’s opposition has blamed a lack of funding in the legal system, compared to an increase in the funding for police, while Ontario’s attorney general has said it is allocating new funding and judges.
The Ministry of the Attorney General did not respond to questions from CTV News about this story.
D’Silva says he’s unhappy about the experience and doesn’t feel justice was served. However, he says that won’t stop people from enjoying the next ride.
“Bicycles. Lights. Fun. That’s what our rides are about,” he said.
