Edwin Mieses, a New York motorcyclist who was severely injured during a violent West Side Highway altercation involving his group of biker friends and the driver of an SUV, said he doesn't blame the man who ran him over, the New York Post reports.
The 32-year-old was paralyzed from the waist down in the September 2013 incident, which started when he dismounted his bike and walked toward the vehicle containing Alexien Lien and his wife and baby daughter, as other bikers surrounded the Range Rover.
Mieses said that he didn't mean any harm.
"I got off my bike to check on [another biker]. As soon as I saw that it wasn't that serious, I was just telling guys to keep going because I didn't really want to ruin the ride and besides that, we were in the middle of the highway," he said.
"As soon as I turned around and started walking back towards my bike, that's when I got ran over. As soon as he hit me, I shut my eyes. I didn't want to open my eyes because I knew that he had hurt me," he added, saying that he was conscious for the whole ordeal.
Lien's SUV had orginally struck one of the other riders, who, according to video, had cut him off on the highway, causing him to stop. The bikers surrounded Lien and hit his vehicle with their helmets. Feeling threatened, Lien stepped on the gas, driving through the bikers and ultimately hurting Mieses.
Mieses ended up in a hospital with two broken legs and spinal injuries, fighting for his life. Lien was pursued by some of the remaining bicyclisst from Harlem to West 178 Street, before being dragged out of his vehicle and being beaten, suffering injuries himself. Bystanders eventually broke the fight up.