Also, the article says the driver hit the cyclist, but then they quote a witness who says it was the other way around.
Yeah. The article itself said the bicyclist ran a red and t-boned the vehicle.
I'm not so sure...
The witness said the pedestrian light was red - not the traffic light. A bicycle has the same rights to the road as any other vehicle, and the same responsibility to follow the traffic signs and lights. In this case, it seems that the witness thought that the bike was in the wrong because of the pedestrian light aspect. There are times at intersections that pedestrian lights are red and the main traffic signal is still green. That doesn't make the cyclist in the wrong. I'd need to see more info from the police report.
That said, he was an idiot for getting into a physical confrontation with the driver.