The man arrested in the “jogger rage” attack in London is a 50-year-old American who is a partner at a private equity firm in an affluent section of the city, according to a report.
Eric Bellquist was detained on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm after a 33-year-old woman was bumped into the path of a bus on a bridge, the London Evening Standard reported.
The graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder has denied being the jogger — saying he was in the US at the time of the May 5 incident on the Putney Bridge, according to the paper.
Bellquist works for Hutton Collins Partners, which owns restaurant chains, and sits on the chains’ boards as a non-executive director. He previously worked for Lehman Brothers.
He was arrested Thursday morning at a Chelsea address, questioned at a south London police station and released without being charged as the probe continues, police said.
His legal team told the Standard that he was “wrongly implicated in this matter.”
“He categorically denies being the individual concerned and has irrefutable proof that he was in the United States at the time of the incident,” Duncan Lewis solicitors said in a statement.
“Consequently we expect a swift resolution to this wholly untrue allegation.”
The jogger was seen on video appearing to swerve into the woman, knocking her into the road as a double-decker approached and stopped inches from her.
The woman, who suffered bruising and back pain, saw the jogger running back across the bridge 15 minutes later and pleaded for him to stop but he didn’t break stride.
Police officer Mat Knowles said he received many reports of similar incidents across London.
“It is perhaps more prevalent than I had first thought. Perhaps it is being under-reported,” he said.
Knowles praised the “superb quick reactions” of the bus driver, who said he was “just doing his job.”
“He is pleased to have been able to react the way he did and that there was no serious injury to the lady,” said his employer, Go Ahead London, the Standard reported.