British motorcyclist's neck slashed after couple stretches dog leash across path

MANCHESTER, England -- A British man's neck was slashed by a dog leash stretched across a path by a middle-aged couple as he rode a motorcycle in Manchester.

Chris Richmond, 23, was hospitalized with burns and bruising to his neck after hitting the leash at around 20mph in Failsworth on Sunday night, the Manchester Evening News reported.

The factory worker struggled to breathe after hitting the leash, and medical staff said he could have been decapitated if he had been traveling faster.

Richmond and two friends were walking through the area when they spotted a teenager riding the motorcycle. They asked to have a turn, and he passed the couple before he hit the leash.

He told the newspaper, "I remember the woman giving me a dirty look beforehand, as if to say, 'You shouldn't be doing that.' Perhaps I shouldn't have been, but that was no way to react. You don't expect that from middle-aged people. I couldn't breathe and thought I was going to die."

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