NEW ORLEANS – A viral Facebook post showing a video of a man on a bicycle being attacked by an angry driver is getting a lot of attention.
Victor Pizarro created the public post hours after he says his husband Tim Walls was assaulted while riding his bike home from the University of New Orleans.
The incident occurred around 4:45 p.m. on October 24 near the intersection of Elysian Fields and Filmore Avenues, according to Pizarro.
The angry motorist “attempted to swerve into Tim as he rode his bike,” Pizarro wrote. “As Tim pedaled away in a panic down Elysian Fields southbound nearing Filmore, the motorist then held back and attempted to ram him from behind.”
After the ramming attempt, the driver pulled over in a parking lot several yards in front of where Walls stopped his bike.
Hoping to calm the situation, Walls whipped out his cell phone and began recording the angry driver as the approached.
Instead, Walls ended up recording the moment he was attacked.
The video shows the driver striking Walls in the face at least once as Walls recoils.
A picture taken after the attack shows Walls lying down with a significant swelling under his left eye.
The incident has been reported to the NOPD, Pizarro said, and the couple hopes the attacker will be brought to justice.
In the meantime, Pizarro urges all bike riders in New Orleans to be extra careful.
“Riding a bike in New Orleans is dangerous enough due to our horrible, crumbling and broken transportation infrastructure/streets and the ignorance of most non-bicyclists,” Pizarro wrote. “While I respect the importance of work done by so many to make this a better place for alternative transportation, this city does not live up to the reputation it has been trying to garner as a bike friendly city. It just doesn’t. Our death and injury rates for bicyclists are incredibly high and education is key. I haven’t seen it happening at all, despite a few occasional billboards featuring a Mardi Gras krewe. It’s not a joke y’all. The paradigm has to shift. Please help us get this person off the streets and let’s start teaching people that the penalties for threatening, intimidating, harassing, and assaulting bicyclists are REAL.”
Read Pizarro’s full post and watch the video of the attack below:
