Bryant incident illustrates how quickly life can change
Posted By RICHARD ROHMER, O. C., Q. C.
Posted 5 months ago
The Michael Bryant case. A Toronto traffic disaster that illustrates how precarious it is becoming to live in that teeming-with-people city.
Precarious? As the story goes, Bryant and his wife had been at a restaurant for a dinner. They were driving home about 10 p. m. along Bloor Street with the top down of their convertible car.
There is a confrontation with a cyclist who apparently decided to attack a car and its driver. During the attack the driver, attempting to escape the assault, accelerated his vehicle hoping to throw off the cyclist who was hanging onto the side of the car as he tried to get at the driver.
The cyclist hung on as the car moved along. In a short time, probably a few seconds, he fell to the ground severely injured. He later died.
Bryant, as the suspected driver, now faces two charges, criminal negligence causing death and also dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death.
It will be up to the courts to hear the evidence and decide whether Bryant is guilty of the charges in this high profile matter. High profile--because Bryant is a former attorney general of Ontario, an accomplished lawyer, a distinguished citizen.
Quite apart from the identity of the driver--it could have been anyone behind the wheel in Toronto--there are elements to this incident that are disturbing, if not frightening, for anyone who chooses to drive a convertible motor vehicle with its top down in the centre core of Toronto.
Several years ago I witnessed a somewhat similar centre of Toronto cyclist courier versus a car driver incident.
The courier considered he was cut off at a corner by a turning driver who then came to a stop at the intersection. The cyclist caught up to the vehicle, threw down his bicycle, reached through the open vehicle window and pummeled the driver's face and head all the while shouting and cursing his victim.
In self defence, the driver stepped on the gas thereby throwing off his attacker and sped away.
He escaped just as the driver in this incident may have been attempting to escape.
The cruel reality for Bryant is that at one minute he was driving his beautiful car on Bloor Street without a care in the world, his reputation above reproach, his lovely wife at his side.
He had no intention of evil or harm to any person.
At the next minute, according to reports, he was being attacked by a stranger, a cyclist who considered himself aggrieved by the driver's action on the road.
The car's top was down leaving the driver wide open to assault and giving the cyclist opportunity to hang on to the car as it accelerated.
The entire incident probably consumed about two long minutes from start to finish when the cyclist went to the ground.
He would die and the driver's life and future would be irrevocably changed, no matter what the courts decide.
Generally speaking, if you drive a convertible and you're motoring along in the centre of Toronto, the Bryant incident tells you this: never have your top down and your windows down. Two 'downs' could change your life in the "twinkling of any eye."
But, of course, never in Collingwood.
