Heated exchange between cyclists and police during ghost bike ride

A memorial bike ride for a cyclist recently killed on city streets, quickly turned into a heated exchange between a number of riders and a Toronto police officer this weekend.

Personal injury lawyer and biking advocate David Shellnutt said he and a group of cyclists gathered at Matt Cohen Park near the Annex, on Saturday for a ghost bike ride to honour another cyclist who was fatally struck by a vehicle last month in Etobicoke.

The group stopped near Kipling Avenue and Burnhamthorpe Road, the site where the collision happened, to hold a moment of silence. Shellnutt says they were interrupted when they were approached by an officer who told them to move out of the roadway.

“As we were getting prepared to leave, I heard sirens and an officer shouting loudly. I approached him to see what was wrong and assure him that if there was a problem, we were on our way and would get out safely,” Shellnutt explained. “It was a really unfortunate display of traffic enforcement.”

Shellnutt said he stepped in to try and deescalate the situation, but was unsuccessful.

“I just wanted to assure him that everything was finished, and the mourners were going to be on their way. He would not listen to a word I said. He threatened me with arrest and then grabbed my bike out of my hands and dropped it on the ground,” Shellnutt added.

CityNews reached out to Toronto police, who provided a statement saying: “During a directed patrol focused on speed enforcement, an officer observed a group of cyclists obstructing westbound traffic on Burnhamthorpe Road. This obstruction forced vehicles to make U-turns into eastbound lanes and navigate around the cyclists, who were attempting to direct traffic themselves.”

“The cyclists did not have a permit to block the roadway for a memorial they were planning to have while blocking traffic,” police added. “Recognizing the potential safety hazards for both cyclists and motorists, the officer intervened and took appropriate measures to ensure the cyclists moved off the roadway, thereby restoring the flow of traffic. There were no arrests or injuries reported in the incident.”

This incident is just the latest example of what Shellnutt calls “anti-cyclist” attitudes, where bike riders are indiscriminately harassed.

“Sure, there are some good officers that we work with, but there is a growing trend, a disturbing one where they get mad at people for confronting them about parking in bike lanes, to go to Tim Hortons,” he added. “They camp out in High Park where there is no serious injury or death, to target and harass cyclists.”

The 26-year-old woman who died last month, was the 6th cyclist-related fatality in the city so far this year. It’s the highest number of cyclists killed in Toronto in the past five years. It’s also a concerning uptick, considering Toronto recorded only one cyclist death in all of 2023.

“Right now, we have the bike lanes we needed 5 or 10 years ago, and the plan that is being proposed is the same plan that John Tory proposed,” Shellnutt said. “It’s simply not good enough. We’ve got to move quickly, especially since we’re seeing a spike in deaths and injuries which could be prevented.”

While advocates say this was an unfortunate incident, Shellnutt believes that there needs to be an overall change in how people treat others using the road. 

“They are not the enemy. If we have infrastructure, congestion problems, construction problems in Toronto, let’s look at the big issues and not aim at just people on bikes,” he said.