D.C. police are investigating an alleged assault on a food delivery person on a bicycle, part of which was caught on video.
The incident happened on Christmas Eve near 9th and U streets in Northwest.
The biker, Nicky VanDyke, said that she was in the right turn lane when a car pulled up very close beside her and blocked her right of way.
She told WTOP that annoyed her. “I popped his mirror with my hand,” VanDyke said.
As she was riding away, she realized that the driver was trying to hit her with his car. The video, first posted on Reddit, showed the car running a red light, pulling a U-turn and then cutting off other traffic in the pursuit.
WTOP obtained footage showing a car following a bicyclist in D.C. You can watch the video below. (Editor’s note: The video contains profanity.)
VanDyke said she pulled up on the sidewalk and tried to get away, but the driver got out of his car, caught up with her and began punching her.
“I tried to put my hands up, but he punches me, and I fall on a railing with my teeth first,” she said.
As she was bleeding, she said, the driver got back into his car and drove away. She went to a nearby convenience store to clean up and realized one of her teeth had been almost knocked out.
“The tooth gets knocked backward, and it’s sticking out at a weird angle and just gushing blood,” VanDyke said.
Since it was Christmas Eve, she could not find a dentist. She said that she went back and finished her delivery shift that night.
Although she does not have insurance, VanDyke said that she went to the emergency room several days later because she was feeling pain. She ended up with hairline fractures in her tooth socket, fractured bones in her face and an infection. It’s possible she may need surgery later.
In an email to WTOP, D.C. police said they are investigating what happened as a simple assault case for now.
VanDyke said run-ins with motorists are not uncommon and she’s had several, but none quite like this. “I was just unlucky really to be hurt as bad as I was.”
VanDyke, 26, has been working as a bike delivery person since she was a junior in high school.
She said of Christmas Eve, the night she was attacked, “It’s that time of year when I’m thinking about religious ideas and forgiveness. Jesus would have us forgive.”
VanDyke said some of her friends are planning to start a fundraising page for her to cover some of the medical bills that’s she’s expecting.
