Double Standard: Prosecutor Pursues Cyclists Rammed by Motorist

On Thursday August 29, 2024, the Neon Riders were out spreading well lit joy and good vibes across Toronto as they do most Thursday evenings. Music pulsed from speakers on bikes as a group of at least 100 people on bikes meandered from City Hall to Toronto’s west side.

The Neon Riders pride themselves on safety as much as they do on their ability to make people smile as they bike through cozy Toronto neighbourhoods, glowing all the way.

They have ride marshals and multiple cyclists filming, for fun, and for safety.

Most people enjoy and understand the group’s expression and acknowledge the need to let them safely pass through en masse, even if it delays them for a minute or two. Occasionally though, motorists get impatient. But on August 29, 2024, motorist Erin Atwood’s impatience turned to aggression and dangerous driving.

As the group passed, Ms. Atwood tried to squeeze into a gap in the mass of cyclists. Cutting a quick left, Atwood naturally became enveloped front and back by the group of cyclists. She began to panic.

Cyclists were upset at her dangerous maneuver, but Neon Riders marshals quickly stepped in and put themselves in front of and in between the motorist and other riders.

Despite attempts to de-escalate the situation by the Neon Riders, Ms. Atwood got angry, she hit the gas and smashed into two marshals on bikes with her car, knocking them out of her way and to the ground.

The marshals had some minor injuries and bike damage, but thankfully no one was seriously injured or killed by the driver. Cyclists crowded around her vehicle, one person opening her car door to prevent her from fleeing the scene, while other Neon Riders called police.

Shouting ensued, EMS arrived, about 2 hours later police did too. Despite multiple witnesses informing the officers about the vehicular assault and that the incident was captured on video, police sided with the motorist’s version of events.

Ms. Atwood said that for no reason, once she turned left and was driving amongst the group, several cyclists had threated to assault and harm her.

Aside from none of these threats happening, Atwood never mentioned she struck several of them with her vehicle [VIDEO EVDIENCE].

Believing the motorist over the multitude of other people on scene, the officers cuffed two of the Neon Riders safety marshals and charged them with uttering threats (a criminal charge).

Our office was contacted immediately, by members of the Neon Riders. We got involved pro-bono to assist in what we thought would be a quick confirmation that the driver was the violent aggressor and the police charged the victims instead. With video evidence we felt confident that with a phone call or email to the prosecutor's office the charges would be promptly dropped.

Not so! It took until November 6, 2024, for our office to finally speak to the Toronto prosecutor assigned to the case. We provided the version of events from the Neon Riders perspective, the fact that video evidence confirmed this, as well as eyewitnesses. The prosecutor acknowledged that himself having spoken to the driver, she did not inform him that she hit anyone with her vehicle. He said he would review the video evidence and get back to us.

Late December 2024, the prosecutor instead of dropping the charges requested our clients admit to the allegations in exchange for a conditional discharged and promise to attend anger management courses.

Our clients promptly refused this offer. I indicated to the prosecutor that with the evidence he now had, he was punishing the victims and not the aggressor. The prosecutor maintained his position and said we should proceed to trial.

A Judicial Pre-Trial was heard in February 2025, wherein a Justice of the Peace heard from both sides and questioned why the prosecutor was proceeding with this matter. Though the Justice could not order the matter be dropped or instruct the prosecutor to act, she firmly suggested serious consideration be given as to whether it was appropriate and/or in the public interest for this matter to proceed to trial.

Nevertheless, a trial was set for October 2025. Further resources expended.

Given potential conflicts in our office representing both accused individuals, a criminal lawyer was hired (at our expense) to represent one of the Neon Riders. We maintained our pro-bono service for the other client.

As we approached and prepared for trial in October, the prosecutor out of the blue offered a complete withdrawal of the charges, which occurred on August 29, 2025, a full year after the attack on the Neon Riders.

The amount of time, legal expense, prosecutorial and judicial resources as well as heartache that accompanies allegations of criminal charges is significant. All the more profound is the impact when the charges are without merit. When you have video evidence demonstrating the alleged victim is the actual perpetrator of harm, the deep sense of injustice is rattling.

This case represents a shocking misuse of public resources by the Toronto Prosecutor’s Office, not to mention the anti-cyclist approach taken by Toronto Police.

We know that in Ontario the justice system is completely swamped. 253,000 Highway Traffic Act cases were withdrawn in 2024, a 5 times increase since 2019 (53,000 dropped).

The union representative for prosecutors has cited resources issues and lack of management direction or support. However, when we see prosecutor’s advancing baseless cases like this, expending huge amounts of public resources all the way up to trial before dropping what is a meritless case, we can only surmise the problem is much larger than a lack of resources.

Prosecutor’s across the province have shown an unwillingness to prosecute cases of serious injury resulting from motor vehicle collisions, while pushing cases like this and High Park cyclist tickets all the way to trial.

We are calling on municipal authorities and the Attorney General to undertake a comprehensive review of the Toronto Prosecutor’s office. Simply providing more resources to a perhaps ill functioning public service will not deliver the justice the people of Ontario deserve.

STAY INFORMED