A driver accused of punching and choking a cyclist during an alleged road rage attack on the Lake District’s Hardknott Pass told police: “He hit me first.”
James French, 36, is on trial at Carlisle Crown Court following an incident on the steep single-track route on the late afternoon of May 15 2021.
Jurors have heard French was driving a Volvo behind Lee Kermode, who was alone having cycled ahead of four friends.
It is alleged that Mr Kermode had his right arm clipped by the Volvo’s wing mirror as the car passed. The cyclist says he shouted “Oi, idiot” and hit the vehicle’s nearside with the outside of his hand.
Mr Kermode further alleges that French stopped and walked over before punching, strangling and wrestling him to the ground, leaving him bloodied.
Opening the case, prosecutor Neil Bisarya said: “Mr Kermode said he got into a state of panic and thought that the defendant was going to kill him.”
French, of Dentons Green, St Helens, denies one charge alleging actual bodily harm assault.
Jurors today heard an interview French gave police after attending a police station voluntarily in the aftermath. French had also called police, alleging an assault by Mr Kermode who, he said, also damaged his car.
French told police he was travelling with his partner down Hardknott Pass. They followed for several minutes waiting for a chance to pass.
“Then we overtook him and as I was going past he punched the side of the car,” said French. “So I stopped to get out have a look at what he’d done. By the time I’d opened my door he was already at my driver’s side. I got out the car and then he got in my face.
“Then we had a scuffle where he hit me. I fell on his bike and he came at me again and then we just had a fight. Then I just tried to subdue him so he would calm down.”
“He hit me first,” added French, who called allegations he’d choked the cyclist absurd. “I didn’t strangle him. I subdued him to the point where he could understand what I was saying.”
Claims his Volvo had clipped the rider, he insisted, were untrue.
The trial continues.
