Cyclist accused of assaulting pregnant woman talks to police


Investigators have yet to determine if charges will be recommended
Cyclist accused of assaulting pregnant woman talks to police

Mandy Pappas, who is five months' pregnant, says she was assaulted by a
cyclist on Friday night. 

A man accused of assaulting a pregnant woman after he sped through a
stop sign on his bike has spoken to investigators, according to
Vancouver police.

Mandy Pappas, who says she is five months pregnant, posted an account
of the alleged assault on Facebook Friday night, and it soon went
viral. In it, she wrote that she was on her way to vote at an advance
poll when she was almost run over by a man on a bike as he blew through
a stop sign without slowing down.

She said she yelled that he had missed a stop sign, and “He stopped,
turned his bike around and came directly for me, hit and knocked me
over. I tried to hold on to his backpack to keep him at the scene after
I got up but I wasn't able to.“

But a witness snapped a photo of her alleged attacker, and by Sunday
morning it had been shared by more than 13,000 Facebook users.

The man who appears in the photo came forward on Saturday and spoke
with police, according to Vancouver police spokesman Const. Brian
Montague.

However, investigators have yet to determine if charges will be
recommended.

“There would have to be evidence to support a criminal charge for us to
forward a report to Crown including some level of intent or negligence
and charges, if any, would ultimately be the decision of Crown,”
Montague wrote in an email.

Pappas has since posted online that both she and the baby are fine.

The investigation into the alleged attack is ongoing.