assault: the Crown Prosecution Service believes taxi driver not cyclist

“On Tuesday March 9th at around 4-5pm, I was cycling west along Oxford Street, London, near Dean Street, when a taxi suddenly swerved across the front of me to pick up a fare and we collided. Following a brief verbal exchange, the taxi driver grabbed the scarf around my neck and strangled me until I was unconscious. When I regained consciousness the police and ambulance were on the scene.

“What seemed an open and shut case in my favour has gone horribly wrong in light of the appalling fact that the subsequent investigation failed to retrieve CCTV footage before it was erased and also failed to secure the details of a witness who saw the entire incident, and who looked after me throughout and assured me and the police he would be my witness. The police now have no record of his details.

“The taxi driver's defence is that I attacked him. A passenger in the car behind saw a scuffle and believes he may have seen a singular punch thrown, although crucially states he didn't see a punch connect (there certainly was a scuffle, I was having the life strangled out of me at the time) and on that basis, regardless of damning photographic evidence that shows vicious swollen bruising around my neck plus a police doctor's report that indicates the same, because I have no witness or CCTV evidence to corroborate my story, the CPS has taken the taxi driver's version of events and charged me with assault.

More on this case here and here.