London jogger who allegedly pushed woman in front of bus denies attack

  • 12/08/2017

Warning: This video contains footage that may disturb some viewers.

The man suspected of pushing a woman into the path of a bus on a busy London road denies being the attacker.

Eric Bellquist has been arrested and released on bail on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm, but says he has proof he was in the US.

The 41-year-old was taken into custody after CCTV footage emerged showing a jogger shoving the woman onto the road, narrowly missing an oncoming double-decker bus.

"This statement is issued in relation to our client, Mr Eric Bellquist, who was arrested yesterday in relation to an assault that took place between a male jogger and a female pedestrian on May 5, 2017 on Putney Bridge, London," Bellquist's lawyers, Duncan Lewis Solicitors, says.

"Our client has been wrongly implicated in this matter; he categorically denies being the individual concerned and has irrefutable proof that he was in the United States at the time of the incident. Consequently, we expect a swift resolution to this wholly untrue allegation."

Images of the near-death experience show the woman, 33, walking on the east side of Putney Bridge in west London, heading towards Putney Bridge Tube Station.

The video from 7:40am on May 5 shows the jogger run across the bridge with the bus behind him. He runs past a pedestrian before appearing to shove the woman onto the road as the bus arrives.

Sergeant Mat Knowles says it is thanks to the "superb quick reactions of the bus driver" that she was not hit.

After the bus ground to a halt, passengers assisted the victim, who received minor injuries.

The Metropolitan Police says about 15 minutes later the runner returned in the other direction across the bridge, but when the woman attempted to speak to him, he "did not acknowledge her".

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