MP Mike Amesbury has pleaded guilty to assault by beating for punching a man in Cheshire.

The Runcorn and Helsby MP appeared at Chester Magistrates’ Court on Thursday morning where he admitted attacking 45-year-old Paul Fellows in Main Street, Frodsham, Cheshire, in October.

Speaking outside the court, he said his actions were “highly regrettable” and he was “sincerely sorry” to Mr Fellows and his family.

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CCTV footage showed Amesbury, who has been an MP since 2017, punching Mr Fellows to the ground.

Other previously released videos from another angle show Amesbury punching Mr Fellows repeatedly after knocking him to the floor as members of the public intervened.

It was reported to police at 2.48pm on Saturday 26 October.

The court heard how Amesbury told Mr Fellows “you won’t threaten your MP again” after punching him in the head with enough force to knock him to the ground.

The 55-year-old politician is currently an independent MP after he was suspended by Labour at the end of October when the CCTV footage emerged.

After admitting assault, the Labour Party confirmed his suspension will continue and he will remain an independent MP.

Reform UK said Amesbury should “do the honourable thing and resign immediately so a by-election can be held”.

The PM’s official spokesperson declined to comment on whether the MP should resign.

Punch followed chat about bridge closure

The court heard Mr Fellows recognised Amesbury in the taxi rank in Frodsham town centre at about 2am on 26 October last year.

Both were alone and had been drinking.

Alison Storey, prosecuting, said Mr Fellows approached the MP to remonstrate about a bridge closure in the town and CCTV then shows they spoke for several minutes but there was no aggression or raised voices.

Mr Fellows then started to walk away but Amesbury re-engaged and was heard saying “what” a few times before shouting it.

The victim then put his hands in his pockets and turned towards the taxi queue and when he turned back Amesbury punched him in the head, knocking him to the ground.

He then punched Mr Fellows again, at least five times, Ms Storey said.

She told the court he was then heard saying “you won’t threaten your MP again will you”.

Amesbury was voluntarily interviewed under caution by Cheshire Police in October and was charged with common assault on 7 November.

At the time, Amesbury said what happened was “deeply regrettable” and that he was cooperating with police.

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‘It is right he has taken responsibility’

A Labour Party spokesman said: “It is right that Mike Amesbury has taken responsibility for his unacceptable actions.

“He was rightly suspended by the Labour Party following the announcement of the police investigation.

“We cannot comment further whilst legal proceedings are still ongoing.”

Amesbury is set to be sentenced next month. If he is sent to prison or given a suspended sentence, he could lose his seat in the Commons.

A sentence of less than a year, even if it is suspended, would leave him liable to the recall process, which would trigger a by-election if 10% of registered voters in his seat sign a petition calling for it.

A jail term of more than a year would mean he automatically loses his seat.

A new bill submitted to the Oregon Legislative Assembly seeks to ban street-legal Class 3 electric bicycles from bike lanes in the state.

Class 3 electric bicycles include those that can reach motor-assisted speeds of up to 28 mph (45 km/h), whereas Class 1 and 2 electric bicycles can only reach 20 mph (32 km/h) under motor assist.

Under Senate Bill 471, the proposed legislation would make it an offense if a rider “operates a moped or a Class 3 electric assisted bicycle upon a sidewalk, a bicycle path or a bicycle lane.” Under Oregon law, traditional pedal bicycles can be legally operated on sidewalks unless restricted by a local ordinance, but e-bikes are already banned from operating on sidewalks.

Thus, the proposed legislation is effectively a ban on electric bikes capable of speeds exceeding 20 mph from being used in bike lanes. Instead, such bikes would only be permitted for use on public roadways.

In addition, Section 2 of the bill seeks to remove key protections for cyclists operating such 20+ mph electric bikes in bike lanes. Under current law, a motorist can be cited for failing to yield right of way to a cyclist in a bike lane when the motorist crosses over the bike lane, such as when crossing into a driveway, parking lot, etc.

The proposed legislation would remove the requirement for motorists to yield the right of way to cyclists on Class 3 e-bikes in bike lanes.

It should be noted that drivers cannot visually distinguish a Class 3 e-bike from other classes of e-bikes being ridden in a bike lane because the difference is performance-based.

Electrek’s Take

Sure, I support this law, as long as we can apply the logic equally. If the logic goes that Class 3 (28 mph maximum) e-bikes have the ability to be ridden faster than much of the traffic flow in a bike lane and thus should be banned in such bike lanes, then we might as well just ban cars capable of highway speeds from being operated on city streets. “Can your car go faster than 40 mph? Sorry, you know the rules. Keep that thing off city streets.”

It makes sense, right? Same logic. If it *can* go faster, it shouldn’t be allowed to operate there at all.

I mean, if a 60 lb e-bike that has the potential to go 8 mph faster than another e-bike is such a menace to public health and safety, then oh lordy what must we think of 5,000 lb vehicles that can easily exceed 120 mph with just a two-inch deviation of a distracted driver’s big toe? Surely we’ll be kicking those out of cities any day now, right? Right, guys? Guys…?

Ok, let’s get serious now. This law is awful and the legislators that conjured it up should be put on a 21 mph bicycle and forced to spend a couple minutes riding with their handlebar inches from 40+ mph cars to truly understand what real danger is. Then let’s hear them try to tell us how it’s a Class 3 e-bike that is the true danger.

I’m not trying to say that we should completely ignore that sometimes people get hit by an e-bike. It happens. It has even been lethal on exceedingly rare occasions. But you know what happens on regular occasions? Cyclists and pedestrians getting hit and killed by cars. So instead of spending legislative effort trying to push e-bikes back out onto roads, maybe we should expend some effort keeping car fenders off of cyclists’ bodies. Or invest in more bike lanes. Or increase enforcement of traffic violations for all road users. Or increase awareness education for drivers and riders alike. There are so many good answers, but none of them can be found in this bill.

via: KMTR