Cropton Forest Assault

Unbelievable and shocking thing to do. Hope these three get tracked down.

So if anyone has spotted any of the described, you know what to do.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/yorkshire-man-rushed-hospital-mountain-085946961.html

I’m not going to excuse violence, but that’s not even half a story.

What’s missing? There really isn’t any mitigation for this.

What’s missing?

Everything. Apart from that fact this poor auld fella got punched, the newspaper report says nothing about what happened.  Now it’s possible that he may just have been minding his own business and for no other reason than; Just Because some blokes decided to have a pop, but I’ll bet 50p of someone else’s money there’s more to it than that.

same story but not much detail

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4n19lq0j5vo

“Everything. Apart from that fact this poor auld fella got punched, the newspaper report says nothing about what happened.”

It’s one side of a story rushed to press but unless the other 3 are caught we’re unlikely to hear the other side, but either way unless he attacked them with a weapon that is all kinds of wrong from their side.

Sure, everyone can get behind me in the line to condemn violence, and while people think that we live in a society that increasingly violent and unruly, we don’t really, and it even more rarely happens in a vacuum.

Apart from that fact this poor auld fella got punched, the newspaper report says nothing about what happened.

Well, obviously, they are working off the police press release, and the police press release is based on what the victim of a pretty nasty assault has told them. If these fine chaps thought they were victims of something equally awful, they should have contacted the police to report a crime themselves. The fact they buggered off and left their victim with some horrible facial injuries suggests otherwise.

Hopefully these upstanding but shy citizens will be identified quickly and dealt with appropriately.

The man who police believe assaulted Mr Cummings is said to be white, aged in his late 40s or 50, about 5ft 6in and of muscular build with broad shoulders.

Officers said he had a bit of a ginger beard, and possibly tattoos.

He was wearing bright-coloured cycling clothing and rode a yellow bike.

The second man is described as white, aged over 50, 6ft tall and wearing mountain bike gear including a tight blue waterproof coat, long trousers and gloves.

The third man is described as white, aged in his 30s, about 6ft, of slim build and with dark hair.

He wore glasses, three-quarter length shorts and other mountain bike gear including a black helmet. His bike was dark in colour.

That’s a remarkable amount of information to gather about three  different people in presumably a short amount of time, so either the victim filmed it or the interaction wasn’t just a quick altercation. And, like Nickc, seeing as people dressed as MTBers don’t tend to go around beating up passers-by I’m assuming there’s more to this story.

I’m surprised that nobody has said “probably Surron riders“

***That’s a remarkable amount of information to gather about three different people in presumably a short amount of time***

I don’t agree – most people are capable of remembering stuff and there’s not much that is very specific in the descriptions.

ElShalimoFull Member
I’m surprised that nobody has said “probably Surron riders“

Only applies when an “ebike” is mentioned

Story mostly seems like an appeal for information to me, which seems reasonable.

I’m assuming there’s more to this story.

Well there’s obviously more to the story, in that we don’t know which words were exchanged and in what kind of tone.

But even if the victim were (hypothetically) being aggressive and confrontational, he’s still entitled to go to the police.

Another hypothetical point – sometimes arseholes meet arseholes and arseholey stuff happens.

sometimes arseholes meet arseholes and arseholey stuff happens.

I suspect this happened.

I’m more interested to know if there’s any decent riding there. I thought it was just fire roads. My natural assumption regarding the assault is that it was a collision of arseholes and he came off badly.

“I’m surprised that nobody has said “probably Surron riders””

No mention of balaclavas in the description so unlikely to be Surron riders.

If i post on hear saying lad has his bike nicked by by 3 blokes in forest I’d not expect a follow ups asking:

Who knows what the lad on the bike said before it was nicked?
What was his tone?

That’s because they wouldn’t be reasons to nick his bike. I’m going to say similarly they aren’t reasons to punch some one in the face

Pickering?  I hear bare-knuckle fighting’s all the rage

I’m going to say similarly they aren’t reasons to punch some one in the face

You may never have been in a situation that requires it or may be unwilling to if you were; but that’s a very bold claim.

If those words are threats accompanied by a tone and/or body language/posture that leads me to believe an individual is about to get punchy, then the ‘conversation’ is moving into a different space.

Lot’s of whataboutery here. all we know is a bloke got slapped by an individual from a trio, an act of assault. What we don’t know is if there is any justification or mitigation as to why a bloke got slapped, or if it was an act by individual with an impulse control problem and the EQ of a brick.

3 on 1. Two of them over 6ft.

Yes, we don’t have the whole story but if this part is even vaguely accurate I would say they had other options.

3 on 1. Two of them over 6ft.

Was it 3 on 1? Or were there two witnesses to the altercation who happened to be friends/acquaintances with the individual who struck the fella?

3 on 1 would imply they all gave him a pasting, which regardless of mitigation would pass muster with the law. But that didn’t happen.

Maybe the victim was trying to steal someone else’s bike and the owner of said bike didn’t have a set of Bombers to “own him”, so used his fists instead? 😉

Be interesting to hear the other side of the story, but that’s not likely to happen any time soon…

Be interesting to hear the other side of the story, but that’s not likely to happen any time soon…

Probably e-bikers. Bloody scourge of the forest. 😉

Hope the bloke heals well, had similar injuries and it’s bloody painful, despite whatever his actions may or may not have been.

I’m not going to excuse violence, but that’s not even half a story.

Of course it isn’t, it’s not supposed to be a “story”. It is clearly an urgent appeal by the police for information.

You might get the whole story when the police investigation, and any possible legal processes, have been completed.

Was it 3 on 1? Or were there two witnesses to the altercation who happened to be friends/acquaintances with the individual who struck the fella?

If they just left after witnessing an assault then I’m not sure but I’m pretty sure that’s also illegal.

Maybe it’s not, but it’s still shitty to not make sure everyone is OK.

3 on 1 doesn’t mean they were all giving him a pasting.  Just that the guy is going to have a hard time convincing anyone he was just using a reasonable degree of force in self-defense.

“Slapped” (in this context) is the sort of term I’d expect to be used by someone with a history of violence and a long list of excuses for it.

https://www.itv.com/news/calendar/2024-05-02/cyclist-who-attacked-oap-over-land-access-could-have-killed-someone

A bit more info & interview with the victim.

We still only have one side of the story but unless there were strong mitigating circumstances it sounds very much like the bikers we’re in the wrong.

Maybe it’s not, but it’s still shitty to not make sure everyone is OK.

Not everyone is as virtuous as you Bruce.

Could be they’re as shitty as their mate, or they felt the slap was warranted, only they will know. We’re all reacting to a slither of the full picture and as Ernie points out, it may be awhile before we hear much else.

“Slapped” (in this context) is the sort of term I’d expect to be used by someone with a history of violence and a long list of excuses for it.

Ahh, El Capitan with the snide remarks, good to see you’re consistent with bringing nothing of value to the discussion.

But yes I do have a long history and relationship with violence and the application of it. Also sadly dealing with it when administered illegally by those in my charge, which did lessen with time, but young men can be quick to throw hands.

As for ‘slapped’ it’s a colloquialism, you can apply whatever context your bias allows, but if it was meant to hurt my feelings, you’ve got to get up much earlier in the day and have a little more flair about you.

or they felt the slap was warranted,

Hell of a slap.  I’ve been jumped by 6 guys and ended up in hospital and I didn’t have anything like this fella’s list of injuries.

I think you’re desperately trying to find wiggle room in something that is showing very little room for wiggling.

We still only have one side of the story but unless there were strong mitigating circumstances it sounds very much like the bikers we’re in the wrong.

Aye, sounds bloody horrible, pinned under a bike and subject to a sustained assault (or repetative slapping) after quite rightly confronting people riding where they shouldn’t.

Denying people on bicycles the right to ride across ‘his’ countryside, should’ve chucked him in the burn after.
Unless they were on ebikes, that’s a different matter.

On a related note, I stood next to Alan Cumming in the Inverness branch of Currys yesterday. Traitors filming is ongoing.

Hell of a slap.  I’ve been jumped by 6 guys and ended up in hospital and I didn’t have anything like this fella’s list of injuries.

I think you’re desperately trying to find wiggle room in something that is showing very little room for wiggling.

Nothing desperate about it, just offering a different perspective, one you don’t agree with. However, just read that link, I’m happy to stand corrected, seems he was pinned by a bike after slipping and hit repeatedly. So ‘slaps’ would be more appropriate. Poor fella.

Looking at the date can understand why nobody has come forward, I think they know they **** up. So as I offered, probably shitty humans.

I got punched once by a rather large and very drunk on grog Fijian, he put me out cold. I had similar injures.

What do we think about the phrase “illegally riding down a historic footpath” in the 2nd link?

It shouldn’t take much sleuthing to figure out the exact location of that “footpath” so “we” can verify its legal status and see whether a Strava segment exists – if so, it might be possible to figure out which riders rode it on that date (if they are dumb enough to Strava it and not make it private or delete it…)

What do we think about the phrase “illegally riding down a historic footpath” in the 2nd link?

I think its a totally separate issue, maybe worthy of discussion elsewhere but not directly relevant imo to the main thrust of this thread i.e. violent physical assault.

It’s not “illegal” to ride a footpath. It’s lazy reporting.

It’s not “illegal” to ride a footpath.

I know, but unless you are suggesting this as some kind of justification for what this/these ‘mountain bikers’ did, I don’t think it’s relevant to the assault.

It’s not “illegal” to ride a footpath.

Mostly true, but there could be exceptions…hence knowing the exact location would be helpful