The cyclist charged at the taxi in a rage after a dispute over driving behaviour

Police are hunting a cyclist who charged at a taxi with his bicycle and then smashed the windscreen with a rock or heavy object in Mong Kong this morning, leading to injuries to the 78-year-old taxi driver.

According to reports, the cyclist and taxi driver were travelling along Tai Kok Tsui Road at around 7am this morning, and had a dispute over road space, with the taxi driver demanding the cyclist move ‘out of his way’.

Video footage from the taxi driver shared on Facebook was edited such that the earlier actions in the altercation could not be seen.

But according to subsequent footage, the dispute escalated when the cyclist stopped ahead of the taxi and charged at the driver in a rage, using his bicycle as a battering ram to smash at the windscreen. The man then appeared to be re-affixing the chain to his bike when the taxi driver called something out that enraged the man further.

The man then appeared to search for a hard object and came at the windscreen on the driver’s side with something like a rock or construction debris, landing multiple blows and smashing the screen until it nearly peeled off.

While reversing to get away from the continuing attack on his vehicle, the driver reversed into another taxi. The assailant then fled on his bicycle and is still at large.

The taxi driver was left with cuts on his hand from glass shards and was taken to Kwong Wah Hospital.

Police are looking for the man, classifying the case as criminal damage. Although it was initially listed as “assault causing actual bodily harm”, a police source later said the case wouldn’t be classed as assault.

“The suspect did not really assault the taxi driver directly, he hit the glass which then broke and hurt the taxi driver, so there is no assault element,” she said.