By Luke Voogt
Video of a jogger swearing at a two-year-old girl learning to ride on a track beside the Barwon River has outraged social media users.
The girl’s mother said she had never experienced such an incident during her seven years living in the area.
Carly, who wanted her surname withheld, had hoped to create a family memory when she began filming her daughter learning to ride.
“I was trying to capture the moment.”
Carly, her daughter and nine-year-old son had just begun their outing when the jogger approached from behind, she said.
In the video he first said: “Excuse me. You don’t need the whole path.”
Carly said she was already slightly left of the middle of the path but moved further and told the man to calm down.
But she said he continued to berate her as she moved over, so she responded: “Shut up, d***head”.
“It’s not proudest moment but I’m very protective of my children.
“I’m a single mother with two kids with limited support, so I probably take that protection a level above.
“This wasn’t about me hogging the path – it was about this guy being cranky pants.”
But Carly said she was shocked most when the man ran past her daughter and said: “Get out of the f*****g way,” which was also audible on the video
“I just couldn’t wrap my head around how much anger he must have to react like that.
“I felt a little bit of pity for him to be honest, I just can’t fathom it.”
Carly said she only realised she had recorded the incident when she arrived home and played the video.
She posted it video on Facebook that night.
The recording went viral after a Facebook friend shared it on a community page. The video had more than 70,000 views in four days.
Scores of viewers commented, with the vast majority condemning the jogger’s behaviour.
Carly said the attention to the video was embarrassing but she hoped it would encourage path-users to have more respect for each other.
“Everyone should feel safe and comfortable using that path.”
