The man, who asked not to be named, was with his pregnant girlfriend when he was filmed having a row with Klaudia Mitura on the towpath of the Ashton Canal in Greater Manchester
A dog walker embroiled in controversy for allegedly shoving a cyclist into a canal in Greater Manchester has broken his silence.
The incident, captured on the cyclist’s camera, shows Klaudia Mitura, 34, halting abruptly on the Ashton Canal towpath as a man seems to yell at her to ‘slow down’. Klaudia is heard arguing about their dog, but the man snaps back ‘yeah but you’re on a f**king bike’.
He then brands her ‘a f***king idiot’, and the video captures Klaudia tumbling into the water. Klaudia, from Manchester, insists she was pushed and was terrified she might ‘drown’ since her feet were clipped to the bike pedals, complicating her escape.
The tale sparked a deluge of comments and reactions on the Manchester Evening News website and Facebook page, with readers fervently debating who was at fault. The dog walker, now eager to clear his name, has spoken up.
The 35-year-old from Dukinfield, who wished to remain anonymous, refutes the accusation of pushing Klaudia, alleging instead that she struck him with her handlebars.
In an interview with the MEN, he recounted: “I was out with my girlfriend, who’s 26 weeks pregnant. We were walking down the canal, as you do.
“A lady came down at a ridiculous speed. I thought she was going to hit my missus and my dog. I thought my family was in danger.
“She’s carried on to ride towards me. Then she’s clipped me with the handlebars and she’s gone into the canal. I didn’t push her.”
Klaudia, a mother of two on her regular cycle to work, feared for her life as she can’t swim when she found herself in the canal.
She recounted that she stood on a rock and was in the water for five minutes before a passerby noticed her plight and came to her aid.
The machine operator, originally from Poland, alleges that the couple she accuses did glance back but failed to ascertain whether she was alright or at risk of drowning.
Conversely, the man accused of pushing her into the canal refutes this, insisting that she seemed to reject his assistance. He explained: “After it happened, I turned around. I said to her ‘are you okay?’ She told me to f**k off.
“She was stood up. She wasn’t stood on a rock. The canal was waist high.”
He added: “She was totally in the wrong. I’m just a normal working guy like anybody else but at the moment I’m just being slandered.”
Greater Manchester Police are currently looking into the incident.