A New York man hits a cyclist then sues the cyclist

Bryan Agnello gave up driving an automobile two years ago, but in 2020, he found himself detailing to the police his involvement in a rear-end collision. Agnello was reportedly riding his bicycle in Rochester, New York, on a rainy January evening when he was struck by a trailing motorist, according to CITY Newspaper. Agnello walked away from the accident without any major injuries and had moved on before the driver re-entered his life with a $700 lawsuit. 

Twenty-two-year-old Jovonte Cook, who allegedly hit Agnello that night, submitted a $700 claim to the Rochester City Court against Agnello for the damages done to the vehicle. In the claim, Cook made claims drastically different to those written on the police report seemingly to glean support in his favor. 

Agnello says he was riding a custom Pake touring bike, which had a blinking red light and reflective pieces attached to it. Agnello was also wearing a reflective rain suit and a helmet for additional protection. None of that stopped Cook from allegedly running into the bike while Agnello was trying to make a left-hand turn. According to the police report, the front left corner of Cook’s 2012 Ford Fusion clipped Agnello, who took a knock to the dome before ending up on the hood of the car. No citation or charge was issued.

Cook paints the incident very differently. In the claim, Cook says Agnello was riding his bicycle about 60 mph on Interstate 490 (he is said to have later claimed 80 mph in a conversation with a reporter) and said he did not see Agnello due to the weather. This recollection was automatically dubious due to the fact that 99.9999999% of humans are nowhere near capable of pedaling a bicycle up to 60 mph, and if a crash were to occur at those speeds, the cyclist would likely still be in the hospital or worse. 

“This is just another one of those situations where I just feel like people in this country look at bicycles as second-class forms of transportation, and that is sad,” Agnello said. “It is really, really sad. It shouldn’t be that way. There needs to be education from the driver’s ed stage all the way through the license acquiring stage.”

Defending his position, Agnello submitted a counterclaim for $2,500. Read more about the wildly annoying and confusing story on RochesterCityNewspaper.com.

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