A COUPLE who knocked a six-year-old girl off her bike in a viral video today moaned “we’re not to blame” because she “was at fault”.
Joanne Crampton said the youngster “barged” into her and husband Ian, 46, as they walked their dog on Blackwell Trail, Notts.
Footage of the incident went viral with viewers disgusted at the sight of the girl crashing to the ground.
Mr Crampton could be heard yelling "so f***ing what?" before kicking the little girl's bike after she fell off.
But defensive Mrs Crampton told The Sun Online today: “People have vilified us, it’s been dreadful but it’s been blown out of all proportion.
"If anything the little girl was at fault, not us.
“She barged into us. We were out walking our dog and we didn’t hear her ringing her bell.”
The couple faced a furious backlash on social media – which they now say is completely undeserved.
If anything the little girl was at fault, not us. She barged into us.
Dog walker Joanne Crampton
Speaking from her home in Huthwaite, Notts, Mrs Crampton said: “We’ve done nothing wrong but people on social media are making us think we have.
"We’re not to blame.”
She confirmed they had called police themselves after the clip was shared by the little girl’s mum, Michelle Prost.
But Nottinghamshire Police decided not to prosecute the couple as they believed the incident was a “misunderstanding”, rather than a crime.
Mrs Crampton said they were “very relieved” and instead blamed the girl’s mum and dad for not keeping an eye on their daughter.
She added: “The video makes us look bad.
"Maybe her parents should have told her not to cycle in-between us.”
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Mr Crampton, who is understood to be self-employed, later declined to comment after being seen ranting and swearing at the girl’s parents and kicking her bike.
The couple’s neat bungalow, with manicured front garden, is just a ten-minute stroll from Blackwell Trail, a popular route for walkers, cyclists and horse riders, which runs from Nottinghamshire to Derbyshire.
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