Truck-driving Alabama man arrested after videos of him threatening bicyclists goes viral 
 
 By Scott Kaufman 
 
 Friday, May 23, 2014 14:37 EDT 
 
 An Alabama man who posted videos of himself complaining about bicyclists has been arrested and charged with reckless endangerment. 
 
 In the videos, Keith Maddox describes what it’s like sharing the road with bicyclists as he drives to work. 
 
 “See what I was talking about?” he says in a video posted on May 21, 2014. “Look there! Look right there. I ought to run him in the ditch. Ride your little bicycle!” he yells as he passes the bicyclist. 
 
 “You piece of crap! I oughta run him in the ditch is what I shoulda done! I shoulda put him in the ditch.” 
 
 In another video, he passes a bicyclist and says, “Lord have mercy, I’m gonna hurt one of them one of these days. Can’t help myself, I’m gonna do it.” 
 
 “Isn’t that nice?” he asks in a video from May 20, 2014. “Me, I’m trying to make it to work. Watch this,” he says, revving his engine as he passes the bicyclists. 
 
 “That scare you boys?” he yells. 
 
 The videos were discovered by cycling enthusiast groups online, who alerted the Calhoun County Sheriff’s office to Maddox’s threats. They arrested him and charged him with reckless endangerment, a misdemeanor charge, and released him on $3,000 bond. 
 
 Maddox asked for forgiveness on his Facebook page with a note — since taken down — in which he apologized “to all people that I have offended over those absolute stupid videos that I posted …anybody who knows me knows that I would never ever intensionally [sic] hurt anyone…those were in very bad taste and I especially want to apologize to the northeast Alabama bicycle association…I am truly sorry for Anyone I may have offended….and please everyone share the road and be very aware of bicycle riders everywhere..and again I am truly sorry for my extremely bad judgement…please except my apology thanks.” 
 
 Watch a compilation of the videos that Maddox posted below. ||||| A stockbroker has been sacked and forced to apologise after tweeting: 'Think I just hit a cyclist. But Im late for work so had to drive off lol.' 
 
 The apparent boast by Rayhan Qadar - which police are investigating - was made on his Twitter account under the name of 'Ray Pew' at 8.30am yesterday. 
 
 It prompted a storm from other Twitter users, who reported the 21-year-old Cardiff University graduate to police and called for him to apologise. 
 
 Apology: Stockbroker Rayhan Qadar, 21, has been sacked after writing this Tweet under the name Ray Pew about hitting a cyclist. He apologised and said he had not been in a crash, but the damage was done 
 
 Despite saying it was a 'bad joke' and insisting he had not hit a cyclist, he was promptly sacked from his job at Bristol-based Hargreaves Lansdown, which sells shares and investment funds. 
 
 A spokesman said: 'One of our employees has failed to conduct themselves to the standards we expect of our staff. 
 
 'We find these online comments totally unacceptable. 
 
 'Upon becoming aware of this issue we have terminated this person's employment with immediate effect.' 
 
 Mr Qadar's 'joke' was retweeted 152 times and helped raise his number of followers above 1,300 before he made his account private and changed his description. 
 
 Appalled Twitter users slammed the man and even Greater Manchester police urged him to come forward. 
 
 Astronomer Adam Whittaker wrote: 'You know what's dumber than leaving the scene? Tweeting it for the world to see. I'll be following your case'. 
 
 Consequences: Mr Qadar's bosses at Bristol financial firm Hargreaves Lansdown (above) said his comments were unacceptable. Avon and Somerset Police are also investigating whether an offence took place 
 
 Another man tweeting as Joff wrote: 'Not a good day for him - hope he was only joking about running a cyclist over or he's in bother!' 
 
 Greater Manchester Police wrote: 'If you hit a cyclist, you are obliged to stop. I suggest you call 101 as soon as possible, I will forward the details on.' 
 
 Twitter user Annabel Staff said: 'Dear oh dear, you ignorant p****, hopefully you won't have a job to get to by the end of the day, enjoy going to court #Scum.' 
 
 It was a really dumb thing to say and now I've lost my job. It's mad, like, you write something and I had no idea it would blow up like that. Obviously I regret it and I'm so sorry Sacked stockbroker Rayhan Qadar 
 
 And Marc Etches wrote: 'Some people don't deserve to be on our roads. You obviously don't have a brain as you actually tweeted this to the world. Get ready.' 
 
 A few hours later Mr Qadar wrote: 'My previous tweet about the cyclist was obviously not true. I did not hit cyclist. Not today. Not ever. A bad joke on my part it seems.' 
 
 Two minutes later he added: 'Sorry if anyone thought i actually hit a cyclist. Anyone who follows me on Twitter know 99% of the things I tweet is nonsense.' 
 
 But the damage was done - and a spokesman for Avon and Somerset Police said the force was investigating. 
 
 'We are aware of a tweet regarding a collision between a cyclist and a car,' he said. 'We are looking into it and we're asking for witnesses to come forward.' 
 
 Police are still investigating despite Mr Qadar contacting the force directly to explain that his tweet had been a joke. 
 
 The drastic consequences for the young stockbroker have prompted a new debate over whether his bosses went too far by sacking him. 
 
 Getting involved: How Greater Manchester Police's official Twitter account waded into the row this morning 
 
 A friend of Rayhan defended him and said it was 'clearly a joke', adding: 'He's genuinely a really nice guy.' 
 
 One Twitter user wrote: 'What I think is disgusting is the total over-reaction from the righteous Twitter Nazis over a joke tweet. It's a bad joke, end of.' 
 
 And one of his original critics, writing under the name Atherton Cyclist, added: 'I didn't want him sacked to be honest, it is a bit harsh. An apology would have done for me.' 
 
 TWIT AND RUN: HOW CASE ECHOES ANOTHER ONLINE FIASCO IN 2013 Emma Way, from Watton, Norfolk, was convicted of failing to stop after a collision and failing to report an accident in 2013 after she prompted outrage with a similar tweet. Police became aware of the collision after she tweeted “definitely knocked a cyclist off his bike earlier. I have right of way - he doesn’t even pay road tax!” using the hashtag #bloodycyclists afterwards. Cyclist Toby Hockley suffered bruising and minor damage to his bike in the incident near the village of Rockland All Saints, Norfolk. Miss Way (above) later said she suffered cyber-bullying because of her Twitter post. 
 
 A third user wrote: 'If I were him I'd check my employment policies. I am not sure a moment of twitter silliness constitutes "gross misconduct"'. 
 
 Mr Qadar apologised today from his home in Bristol, saying: 'I am 100 per cent sorry. It was a joke gone bad. I didn't think that would happen. 
 
 'I understand now that I can't say things like that. If I did have an accident I would not drive away. 
 
 'I was literally late to work - that's the only true bit - and I tweet a lot of nonsense so I go "I hit a cyclist, I think I hit a cyclist, but I can't stop because I'm late for work". 
 
 'Obviously it's not true. The only true bit is I was late for work. 
 
 'I say a lot of things like that on Twitter. People that follow me for a few years, they know I talk a lot of nonsense really. That's all it was. 
 
 'It was a really dumb thing to say [...] and now I've lost my job. It's mad, like, you write something and I had no idea it would blow up like that. 
 
 'Obviously I regret it and I'm so sorry to anyone who thought I might have hit someone. I wouldn't ever drive away if I did. 
 
 'The way I'm looking at it is if I kind of wrote a tweet about one person or a few people or targeted someone, like, specifically or anything then I understand. 
 
 'But it was a made up thing, it's not about anyone, it didn't hurt anyone that's why I'm a bit, like, "I can't believe it cost my job over that". 
 
 'I'm in a bit of shock at the moment. I know it's foolish. I wouldn't do it again.'
– A series of angry viral videos has an Alabama man facing a reckless endangerment charge. Apparently fed up with cyclists slowing him down on the road, Keith Maddox posted videos in which he explains his feelings—and threatens those on bikes, the Raw Story reports. "You piece of crap!" he shouts while driving by one cyclist. "Ought to run him in the ditch is what I should have done." "I’m gonna hurt one of them one of these days. Can’t help myself, I’m gonna do it," he says in another clip. Cyclist groups told police about the videos and Maddox was charged with the misdemeanor. On Facebook, however, he apologized about "those absolute stupid videos that I posted," adding that he wouldn't actually hurt anybody. "Please everyone share the road and be very aware of bicycle riders everywhere." A local cycling association head said he'd accept the apology, the Anniston Star reports. "Many cyclists' first reaction will be to scream for the guy's head," Bobby Phillips said. "But that's not going to help anybody and could drive biking and non-biking people further apart."