Dog walker speaks out after 'pushing' cyclist into canal over 'not slowing down' in shocking footage
A dog walker who was accused of pushing a cyclist into a Manchester canal has spoken out after footage of the moment went viral.
Back in July, Klaudia Mitura was cycling down a canal path near the city centre on her morning commute when she approached a couple walking their dog off lead.
After one of the walkers shouted at her to 'slow down', she came to a stop, before continuing past the man, who then appeared to push her in, with camera footage from her bike capturing the moment.
While you could probably argue for hours about the right of way rules on a canal path, Klaudia certainly didn't deserve to end up in the canal and she was fortunate that a good samaritan was able to help her out, given that she cannot swim.
Advert
After the footage went viral, she claimed: "As you can see in the video I was trying to pass the couple. He did not want to move out of the way.
"When he passed me, he just pushed me in the water. They were gone, and didn't turn their heads to see if I'm alive or not.
"I don't know what I would do if no one had walked past me. They didn't look back to see if I'm okay or if I'm drowning.
"He refused to move out of the way, I didn't do anything, I just wanted to pass him and go my way."
Greater Manchester Police confirmed the force is investigating the incident but that 'no arrests have been made'.
However, the unnamed man has now spoken out for the first time and suggests that things aren't as they seem in the video.
He told MEN: "I was out with my girlfriend who's 26 weeks pregnant. We were walking down the canal, as you do.
"A lady came down at a ridiculous speed. I thought she was going to hit my missus and my dog. I thought my family was in danger.
"She's carried on to ride towards me. Then she's clipped me with the handle bars and she's gone into the canal. I didn't push her."
He's also denied that they didn't offer to help, suggesting that they did turn around but were allegedly told to f*** off by Klaudia.
The man claimed: "After it happened, I turned around. I said to her 'are you okay?' She told me to f**k off.
"She was stood up. She wasn't stood on a rock. The canal was waist high.
"She was totally in the wrong. I'm just a normal working guy like anybody else but at the moment I'm just being slandered."
James Moorhouse