Electric bicycle rider cleared of killing pedestrian by careless driving

An electric bicycle rider has been cleared at the Old Bailey of killing a pedestrian by careless driving in what is believed to be the first prosecution of its kind. 

Thomas Hanlon, 32, was said to have smashed into Sakine Cihan, 56, when he was 10mph above the 20mph speed limit as she crossed Kingsland Road in Dalston, east London in August 2018. 

During his trial it was alleged Mr Hanlon’s red ‘Hardrock’ mountain model from cycle company Specialized had been fitted with a highly-powered battery motor capable of travelling at double the legal 15.5mph speed limit for E-bikes. 

Electric bicycle rider Thomas Hanlon, 32, (seen in a CCTV image released at the time) has been cleared at the Old Bailey of killing a pedestrian by careless driving in what is believed to be the first prosecution of its kind

This would make it technically a motorbike, requiring a licence and insurance, it was alleged by the prosecution. 

Mrs Cihan collapsed bleeding and had suffered multiple fractured ribs in the crash. 

She died in hospital the next day as a result of a ‘catastrophic’ head injury, in what is believed to be the first death of a pedestrian after a collision with an E-bike in the UK.

An Old Bailey jury deliberated for more than an hour on Monday to find him not guilty of all charges, including an alternative charge of careless driving.

Mr Hanlon held his head in his hands and sobbed as the foreman of the jury announced the verdicts.

The court had heard how Mr Hanlon was travelling around 30mph but had slowed down before he crashed into Mrs Cihan who had suddenly walked into Kingsland High Street.

Ms Cihan had tried to cross the road despite the lights being green, jurors were told.

One witness recalled seeing Mr Hanlon and thinking ‘Jesus that’s fast’ just before he ‘suddenly saw arms and legs everywhere, flying in the air’.

Another said in a statement read to court that heads collided before the rider got up ‘dazed and confused’, leaving the pedestrian motionless on the road.

The court heard it was not possible to tell from CCTV footage whether Ms Cihan had looked both ways before stepping off the curb.

Hanlon (pictured earlier in the trial) told police a witness had asked him to stay at the scene but he was 'in no fit state' to check on the wellbeing of Mrs Cihan

Sakine Cihan collapsed bleeding and had suffered multiple fractured ribs in the crash. She died in hospital the next day

The court heard it was not possible to tell from CCTV footage whether Ms Cihan (right) had looked both ways before stepping off the curb. Mr Hanlon is pictured left

Ms Cihan had walked 2.8 metres into the road in 1.4 seconds to the point of collision, jurors were told.

Summing up the evidence, Judge Mark Dennis QC told jurors: ‘It is not possible to tell whether she looked to her right or left when doing so – as one should.

‘Had she looked to her right she would have seen the defendant 16.5 metres away in the middle of the oncoming lane.

‘It may be she assumed the lane was clear because of the absence of any traffic passing from her right to left. As it happened there was some traffic passing from her left to right in the far lane.

‘It is, you may think, entirely possible that she was distracted by seeing a gap across the road and did not check to her right.’

Hanlon told police on arrest that he knew he had crashed into Mrs Cihan but left without checking on the victim, the court heard last Thursday.

He claimed he bought the bike a year earlier on Gumtree for £850 and had recently fitted it with hydraulic brakes which worked ‘as good as gold.’ 

A full transcript of the police interview was read to jurors in which Hanlon said: ‘I just wanted to go home, I was confused…I just wanted to sleep, I just wanted my mum…’

The interviewing police officer asked: ‘How [do] the brakes work?’

‘Good as gold. I changed the front brakes to a hydraulic brake which is in now,’ Hanlon said. 

‘The lights were green so you carried on – did you try and apply the brakes at all?’ the officer asked.  

‘I did but it was just way too late,’ Hanlon said. ‘She just went out into the road. I tried to pull both brakes, no time to swerve or nothing she didn’t even look at me.’

The officer asked: ‘Were you aware that you hit her?’ 

‘Yeah,’ Hanlon said. 

He told police a witness had asked him to stay at the scene but he was ‘in no fit state’ to check on the wellbeing of Mrs Cihan.

According to Hanlon, the witness said: ‘There’s a cut above your head, you should stay, you should get checked out.’ 

Mr Hanlon turned himself in after a media appeal for the suspect was sent out by the Metropolitan police.

He told officers in his police interview: ‘She rushed out in front of me to cross and she didn’t even look at me, she didn’t look left or right… basically I could do nothing.’

It was accepted at the trial that the traffic lights were green when he rode, and he did not run a red light.   

Mr Hanlon, who declined to give evidence, accepted he did not have a licence or insurance but disputed there had been a fault in the driving which contributed in a more than a minimal way to the death.

Mr Hanlon denied one count of causing death by careless driving, one of causing death while uninsured and one of causing death while unlicensed throughout the trial.