Cyclist ‘yelled at woman he knocked over’
A YOUNG cyclist accused of killing a mother-of-two by ploughing into her on a racing bike sprang up and began shouting at her as she lay mortally injured, a court heard.
Charlie Alliston was allegedly travelling at 18mph on a fixed wheel track bike with no front brakes before he crashed into 44-year-old Kim Briggs as she crossed a busy east London street in February last year.
Alliston, who was aged 18 at the time, is on trial at the Old Bailey charged with manslaughter and causing grievous harm by wanton and furious driving under the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act. David Callan was walking along Old Street at about 12.15pm on February 12 when he looked up and saw the crash, according to a statement read in court.
He said: “I had my head down when I heard a shout. It made me look up just in time to see a collision between a cyclist and a pedestrian. The cyclist flew through the air and the pedestrian fell. The cyclist clattered to the ground but quickly sprang to their feet and shouted something as they took a step towards the pedestrian who lay on the ground.”
Jurors heard Mrs Briggs suffered “non-survivable brain injuries” and died in hospital a week later.
Alliston’s “fixie” bike was not legal to use on the road without it being modified to add a front brake, jurors heard. In January last year, he had bought the Planet X bike second-hand for £470, telling the vendor he used to be a courier and wanted it for track cycling.
Edward Small, a crash investigator who studied CCTV of the incident, concluded Alliston would have been able to stop and avoid collision if the bike had been fitted with a front brake.
The defendant had been travelling an average of 18mph before he spotted Mrs Briggs step out into the road. He was a minimum of 6.65 metres away when he swerved and tried to take evasive action, the court heard.
Alliston, now 20, of Trothy Road, Bermondsey, south London, denies the charges against him.