Bike Blog has been following the motorist vs courier biffo story at citynoise. Apparently the cyclist has shown up in the discussion - look for her "Leah:" tag in the original posting or there's a summary of her main comment at spacing wire.
First he stomps down…
Fake?
There are still plenty of doubters arguing that the whole thing was staged. I remain cautiously sceptical. It could be the real event, a later reconstruction, or a total fabrication. Regardless the scenario itself is certainly plausible.
I know I couldn't take photos that well in such a situation but that's no reason to doubt that a good photographer could.
One thing that mitigates against it being staged: surely the actor playing the assailant would have insisted that the photographer obscure his face before releasing any photos.
Misogynist, puerile, stupid
There are also plenty of fools prepared to prove themselves misogynist, puerile, and stupid in the anonymous forum. More fools they for believing that they can be truly anonymous on the web.
At this point it doesn't matter whether the events in the photos really happened or not - we're now dealing with people's attitudes and prejudices.
From where I sit, any damage the cyclist could have done with a key does not justify the motorist roughing her up. Her actions were certainly imprudent but no, dickheads, she did not "get what she deserved". Leave it to the cyclist herself to respond to one of these neanderthals:
Leah: 28th Jan 2006 - 01:24 GMT
I am sure your mother is very proud off you! Lets hope you have a daughter one day and some ass slaps her around....but wait! that would require a woman/man to get close enough to you to make a baby....not f'n likly!!
…then he backs down
There's a helpful thought exercise for anyone else who reckons she "got what she deserved".
I can't find any justification in attacking anyone from behind - be they female or male - and I'm heartened to see that the cyclist was more than capable of putting such a weak and craven bully on the back foot once she was able to turn around and made it a more even fight.
Definitely not fake
In picking up on this incident Biking Bis also highlights another assault on cyclist caught on camera. In this case, the security camera of a TriMet bus in Portland, Oregon. There's definitely nothing faked about this one: the cyclist is suing TriMet.
As I said, the scenario is all too real.