The jogger being hunted by police after he “pushed” a woman into an oncoming bus did so because of “white male privilege”, according to the head of psychology at Birmingham City University.
Video footage was released by Met Police yesterday (August 8) which appears to show a male jogger on Putney Bridge pushing a woman into the path of a bus at 7.41am on May 5.
The bus swerves to miss the 33-year-old victim and the woman only suffered minor injuries but she was put in “extreme danger”, police stated.
Professor Craig Jackson speaking on Good Morning Britain (ITV)
Speaking on Good Morning Britain, Professor Craig Jackson said when he first heard about the incident, he thought it was a case of “very severe mental illness or psychotic delusions” but upon seeing the footage came to a different conclusion.
He said: “What we’re looking at here seems to be a white, middle aged, well-to-do individual who clearly seems to be think his pavement his own.
“I think what we're looking at here is an embodiment of what we often see as 'cis privilege' - or you might want to call it white male privilege.
“This is clearly an individual, who, upon seeing someone in his path, veers towards them and not only does he barrel them over but he continues to run down the road without even looking back to make sure they're okay.
“That to me is quite horrifying behaviour and I think what we're looking at here is the pedestrian equivalent of road rage.
“It's very, very worrying at all, this could have been murder of manslaughter.”
The presenters on the show this morning, Kate Garraway and Jeremy Kyle, questioned whether the culprit “knew the woman” as he ran back on the other side 15 minutes later and the victim “called out to him”.
Professor Jackson went on to say that the jogger “clearly believes he’s more important or valuable than someone else”.
He added: “I don’t think mentally there’s anything wrong with him, I think it’s to do with his personality and how he views himself as a person.”
Let us know your view: grainne.cuffe@london.newsquest.co.uk
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