It’s not everyday the Toronto Police Service regram your Insta post.
But on Friday morning, the police department did just that.
After an Instagram user posted a video of himself cycling along Yonge Street poppin’ wheelies last week, Toronto police saw the video and decided to call out the user on their social media account.
“Thanks for the video, great riding skill, but dangerous cycling behaviour. You now have our attention,” reads Const. Clint Stibbe in the Toronto Police Instagram post. “Your video shows evidence of careless driving under the HTA, as well as several by-law offences. You have put several pedestrians in harm’s way as a result of your actions. Road safety is a shared responsibility and this type of disregard for safe riding on city streets does not forward the cycling agenda in the City of Toronto, and puts you at risk of serious injury or death.”
Const. Stibbe asks if anyone knows when and where this offence occurred to contact the Toronto Police Service so they can move forward in laying charges against the cyclist.
And just a few hours after the post went up, the cyclist, who owns a bike shop on College Street according to his account, publicly responded to police.
“It’s kind of heartbreaking to see my little poppa wheelie clip being posted on the Toronto Police Instagram account (20k followers to see “my crime”). I say heartbreaking because my video is surrounded by surveillance videos of murders, stabbings, shootings, robberies and sexual assaults,” he wrote from his MyLittleBikeShop account. “I never crashed, I never hit anyone, and didn’t commit any sort of hit & run. I never even made / make anyone slow down, hit their brakes or cause them to pull last second maneuvers. Yes, maybe a little dangerous, but I am a expert, have been doing this my entire life and have never had an accident or caused an accident while on the streets of Toronto, while on my bike (one wheel or two).”
The video has been viewed over 1,000 times on the police account, and has resulted in a lot of debate on the cyclist’s alleged crime.
Toronto Police are asking anyone who witnessed the incident to call 416-808-1900.