Depending on who you ask, the video either shows an accidental collision between a bike and a car, or evidence of a dangerous culture of driver aggression on Toronto’s streets.

Taken Aug. 27 by a camera strapped to the helmet of a cyclist, the video begins with footage of a car blocking the Martin Goodman cycling trail as it sits outside the Royal Canadian Legion on Lake Shore Blvd.

The cyclist passes in front of the car and shakes his head at the driver before continuing. Shortly after, the same car can be seen driving along Lake Shore in the same direction, overtaking the cyclist and pulling into the Boulevard Club’s driveway, which crosses the rider’s path ahead.

The car stops as two other cyclists and a woman walking her dog on the path cross in front of it. But as the cyclist with the camera passes in front of the car, the vehicle moves forward and hits him.

The cyclist dismounts and runs toward the car, swearing and shouting at the driver.

He then returns to his bike and, as two passersby ask him if he’s OK, the car does a three-point turn and pulls away.

The cyclist, 29-year-old Mazda Amiryar, was not seriously injured. But he claims the driver hit him intentionally because Amiryar angered him by shaking his head when the driver earlier blocked the trail with his car.

The driver, 24-year-old David Yousif, doesn’t deny that he hit Amiryar with his car.

But in an interview with the Star, Yousif said the allegation that he did it intentionally was “obviously not true.”

According to Yousif, the two men share responsibility for the collision. “He kind of just sped up in front of me and there was minimal contact,” he said. “Of course, I didn’t hit him on purpose.”

Yousif said that “maybe I should have done a few more looks” before driving across the bike path in front of the Boulevard Club — but then suggested Amiryar shouldn’t have ridden in front of him.

“A realistic person with a little bit of intelligence would slow down rather than zoom up in front of the car,” Yousif said.

Yousif said he left the scene because he believed Amiryar wasn’t badly hurt, and didn’t know he intended to call the police. “If he was going to call the cops, sure I would have stayed,” he said.

Yousif is facing three traffic offences, which he said he intends to fight.

Amiryar’s lawyer and road safety advocates say the video is troubling. They suggest the fact that Yousif wasn’t charged with a criminal offence is evidence of a legal double standard, under which allegations of violence committed by someone behind the wheel are treated less seriously than those of violence that occurs off the road.

“We view this as a deliberate assault, with the video supporting that position,” said David Shellnutt, the lawyer who is representing Amiryar.

Shellnutt said he’s asked police to consider criminal charges. “Severe punishment should be laid so that future incidents like this are deterred,” he said, adding Amiryar, who works a designer, was traumatized and is now afraid to commute by bike.

Advocacy group Cycle Toronto took up Amiryar’s cause, and in a Sept. 4 news release said the incident is an example of what happens “when motor vehicles are weaponized.” The group called for an end to what it described as the city’s “culture of accepting aggression” on the part of drivers.

“Had that person in the sedan been holding a stick or a club, and had acted aggressively in the same way as they did with their vehicle, the charges would likely be criminal,” the group said.

Const. Clinton Stibbe of Toronto Police traffic services declined to comment on the case because it is before the courts. He said the investigation is ongoing.

But speaking generally, a police spokesperson said officers lay whatever charge is warranted based on evidence they uncover during an investigation.

“We don’t go to an investigation and go, ‘Oh this is automatically going to be a Highway Traffic Act’ or, ‘Oh, this is automatically going to be criminal,’” said Const. Caroline De Kloet.

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Yousif, who lives in Markham, told the Star he was on Lake Shore the day of the incident because he intended to take a walk along the waterfront, and drove into the entrance of the Boulevard Club because he mistakenly thought it was a public parking lot.

He is facing three charges under the Highway Traffic Act: fail to remain, fail to report, and fail to yield.

The non-criminal charges come with a maximum penalty of a fine of up to $2,000, imprisonment for up to six months, a licence suspension for up to two years, and up to seven demerit points.