It sounds unbelievable, but numerous news outlets are reporting that Michael Bryant, who recently resigned his job as Ontario’s Minister as Economic Development and served for a number of years as the province’s Attorney General (he banned pit bulls, remember?), is in custody after the fatal hit-and run of a cyclist last night near Toronto’s Yorkville neighbourhood.

It’s not clear how the whole thing started, but apparently a young male cyclist got into it with the driver of a Black Saab. The cyclist tried to grab on to the driver, or the car, and the car took off.

Here’s the Toronto Star:

Witnesses said the cyclist hung onto the driver’s side of the car, which had its convertible top down, while the driver allegedly yelled at him to get off.

The vehicle then veered onto the eastbound lanes and mounted the curb, brushing against trees and poles, witnesses said.

[...]

As the car approached Avenue Rd., the cyclist fell off and he and his bike were dragged before being run over by the rear wheels, witnesses said.

The Toronto cyclist was taken to St. Michael’s Hospital with severe head injuries and died around midnight, police said.

The car took off on Avenue Rd, but one matching the description – and owned by Bryant – was located at the Park Hyatt hotel, not far away.

Having been on both sides of the driver/cyclist divide — and having written about it here and here — I can only say that it’s frighteningly easy to see how this kind of horrible accident could have come about. There’s a lot of anger and self-righteousness on both sides, but when things get violent it’s almost always the biker who pays. In Toronto, as in a lot of North American cities, the prevailing attitude isn’t even “share the road,” but rather “fight it out.”

UPDATE: Bryant has now been charged in the incident, and has issued a statement expressing his “deepest condolences to the family of” the victim, Darcy Sheppard.

(Detail from a photo of Michael Bryant by aquadan.)