North Melbourne great Glenn Archer has reportedly been charged after allegedly crashing into a cyclist in January.
Cyclist Mark Vander spent two nights in hospital after the truck clipped him on a Heidelberg road and sent him sprawling to the ground at high speed.
Nine News reported on Tuesday night that Archer had been charged with careless driving and failing to keep a safe distance when overtaking and was set to front the Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court in July.
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“He just swerved in and took me out, drove off and didn’t stop,” Vander told Nine.
Archer, who runs a tree removalist business, told Nine he was not aware of the incident at the time.
“On the day I had absolutely no idea,” he said.
“When you’re driving a truck there’s a lot of weight, I was carrying a trailer with a machine on the back, so multiple tonnes.”
Vander said he called the tree removalist business multiple times, but it was not until dashcam footage emerged of the crash that Archer responded.
“I thought ‘wow, I actually did knock the guy off the bike’,” Archer said.
“At the start, we were getting phone calls asking for money and what not, at first I actually thought it was a scam.”
Vander said he was furious at Archer’s conduct, saying: “it mentally just breaks you, to leave me dying in the ditch and drive off.”
“It could’ve been a lot worse. If I wasn’t wearing such a good helmet, I might not have been here to tell the story.”
Archer played 311 games for North Melbourne, winning two premierships.
