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Rad wheelie raises ire of Toronto police

Rider heads along Yonge Street weaving through traffic and running a red light

Rad wheelie

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Witnesses to this incident are asked to contact Cst Clint Stibbe Traffic Services Toronto Police 416-808-1900 #BikeTO Message from Cst Stibbe: Thanks for the video, great riding skill, but dangerous cycling behaviour… YOU now have our attention.  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.  If anyone knows when and where this offence occurred, please contact the Toronto Police Service at 416-808-1900, so we may move forward in laying charges against this cyclist for the offences he has committed. @Regrann from @mylittlebikeshop – @chain_yanker caught me for a quick clip on Yonge Street ✔…. haven't been on this bike much lately. I am super excited to get my new @circabicycle titanium 29" street deluxe MTB soon. – #regrann

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The cyclist shows great skill in his Instragam video, popping his front wheel up and cruising along Toronto’s Yonge Street. At a red light, he swings into the oncoming lane, rides through the intersection weaving around vehicles. His front wheel touches down briefly so he can hop onto the sidewalk. Then it’s back into a wheelie as he goes around pedestrians and back onto the road. He finally comes to a stop at a busy intersection and the video ends. It’s rad, sure. And now the cops want him.

“Witnesses to this incident are asked to contact Cst Clint Stibbe Traffic Services Toronto Police 416-808-1900 #BikeTO,” writes the Toronto Police Service in a post on its Instragram account, which went up early Friday morning.

It continues with a message from Const. Clint Stibbe. “Thanks for the video, great riding skill, but dangerous cycling behaviour…YOU now have our attention,” Const. Stibbe writes. “Your video shows evidence of careless driving under the HTA [Highway Traffic Act], 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. If anyone knows when and where this offence occurred, please contact the Toronto Police Service at 416-808-1900, so we may move forward in laying charges against this cyclist for the offences he has committed.”

The rider, who uses the Instagram handle @mylittlebikeshop, posted a response to the Toronto 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”),” he writes. “I say heartbreaking because my video is surrounded by surveillance videos of murders, stabbings, shootings, robberies and sexual assaults. 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). I see the most pitiful laws broken in the most sloppy and most dangerous ways all day, every day by regular cycling commuters who often place themselves in the most dangerous positions on the road (who also seem to always want to race everyone [cars & other cyclists] and get angry at every car [while not wearing lights on during the night]).”