I was on a bike, stopped at a red light on my way home. Suddenly a young man crossed in front of me on his bike and began screaming at the car behind me. The car came around me and braked in the middle of the intersection. A man got out and yelled at the biker but not as fanatically as the biker was yelling at him. The biker was screaming things like, “Oh you’re in a car. You dick. There’s a bike lane” etc. Then the biker turned to me and said, “YOU’RE A WITNESS!” I just stared. The light turned green. I said, “Um, can we go?” and the woman in the car next to me said, “Yeah, that would be great.” The man got back in his car and I biked past the biker.
That’s when things got weirder. This boy biked up from behind me and slowed down really close. It was a dark and isolated part of Cortland just past an underpass. We had this exchange:
Him: Hey. Hey! Why didn’t you defend yourself?
Me: Wait, what?
Him: Why didn’t you F***ING DEFEND YOURSELF?
Me: I didn’t think I was being attacked.
Him: Yes you were. That guy was F***ING YELLING AT YOU.
Me: Oh. Um… I guess I didn’t care?
Him: F***YOU. You are a f****ing c***. You know that? YOU ARE A F***ING C***.
He then pulled out a bottle of liquid (I think water, but I’m not sure) and sprayed me in the face with it.
He called me a “f***ing c***” and sprayed me in the face with a water bottle.
I was so stunned to be assaulted by this child over something that had nothing to do with me that I just pulled around on my bike as he sped past.
He must have thought he was defending all cyclists (and maybe women) and couldn’t handle the possibility that I wouldn’t be on his side. The thing is, I wasn’t threatened. I didn’t even realize the motorist behind me was even slightly annoyed.
For someone to take an instance that has nothing at all to do with him and use it as a platform for his own rage and anger management issues is unacceptable. I was a bystander and I was sprayed in the face and called a “f***ing c***.” Can’t imagine what would have happened if we had actually been in direct confrontation over something.
I think this person is dangerous. He is in his 20’s, very pale white. Wearing a Chicago flag baseball cap and riding a road bike. He has very long black hair, many tattoos, and a septum ring in his nose.
Is there anything I can do about this one particular person? Is there anything we can do?
– WR
Location: 10 PM corner of Elston and Cortland, Chicago, IL
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