LAPD arrests “road rage” doctor in bicyclist assault
This is an ugly story: an L.A. doctor slammed on his brakes in front of cyclists descending a steep hill, putting one of them through his rear windshield and sending another onto the pavement at high speed. The fellow who went through the window got his nose detached and is badly injured, but both will survive.
The doctor continued screaming at them after the accident.
Amazingly, he was arrested and charged with felony assault. He posted a $30,000 bond and has been released.
I had a similar case here in Tucson that, thankfully, did not involve injuries. A cat 1 cyclist was attacked by a road-raging driver on Gates Pass. Ultimately his body left a dent in her car, and she called the police to report the damage. The cyclist was then located by the police and arrested.
We eventually got the charges dismissed, but it looked as if we would be going to trial right up to the end.
I am glad they see things differently in L.A.!
We hope the cyclists have a speedy recovery.
–Erik Ryberg
July 8th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
There’s a lesson to take away from this incident compared to the local one Eric mentioned. I’ve seen several instances where the cops’ assumption of guilt or innocence seems to be based primarily on which party phoned it in. If you are involved in even a seemingly minor confrontation – if there’s any injury or property damage at all, be the first one to report it. It may not automatically go your way if you do, but if you just ride off leaving the car driver the opportunity to bias the cops with a totally one-sided “slightly bent” story, and as a result they have to come find you, do you think they are then going to listen to anything you have to say?
July 8th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
In my not-so-humble opinion, this doctor’s license to practice should be carefully reviewed by the Medical Board of California. If this doctor’s road behavior is any indication, I’d say that the public is at risk.
August 5th, 2008 at 10:01 am
[...] Los Angeles doctor who badly injured two cyclists in a fit of road rage had his appearance in court last week. It looks as if the guy is spending a [...]
August 17th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Why wasn’t the doctor charged with attempted murder? If he intentionally drive into the cyclists, he would have. Deliberately braking so these guys would drive into him is about the same thing since the doctor was directing his car so these guys would get hurt.
I stopped cycling because of this kind of crap. It was either stop cycling or arming myself. I know cyclists who do arm themselves with weapons just in case they are attacked.
August 18th, 2008 at 12:57 am
Dear fellow cyclists,
I am an American who’s lived in Europe for nearly 40 years, with the last eight in the Netherlands. The biking environment is one of the main reasons I’ve settled permanently here. When I lived in Germany 22 years ago I belonged to your League of American Wheelmen, as well as biking everywhere possible. In several European countries, preeminently the Netherlands, the cyclist has de jure equal rights, de facto more than equal to those of motorists. In almost all cases involving bike & auto accidents here the driver is held at fault. The jurisprudence here favors the cyclist because everyone in the judiciary is a cyclist and thus is well cognizant of the cyclist’s physical vulnerability.
Everyone here grows up and bikes throughout their lives. Drivers respect and know how to drive around bikes. There are bike lanes everywhere. As an example I’ve enclosed a photo (in separate email to Mr. Ryberg) of the small country road in front of my house. Nb the two red lanes left and right are cyclists, pedestrians and three wheel motorized vehicles for the physically impaired. These bike lanes are 150cm wide, thus three meters of bike lanes whereas the single car lane is 190cm wide! Where space allows there are usually separate bike lanes, roads really that can be much wider. The biking Dutch physical and legal cycling infrastructure as well as ground roots support is well and truly amazing. Certainly the police would have been knocking on the door of this neo Doctor of Death in Los Angeles with the first report of road rage against cyclists and not have to wait until it hits CNN.
My issues are twofold, safety-health and the ecology. Days and weeks go by before I see anyone very much less grossly obese here. The chances are high that turning around a point in most any American shopping mall would present one to many views of spandex stretched to fishnet shorts and slacks. I am telling you nothing new that there needs to be a fundamental and universal sea change in the attitude of all Americans, laws and highway/bikeway infrastructure about biking for many positive reasons including health but most importantly the ecology with the Netherlands as the blueprint.
But how to do this, easier said than done. Yet I have never seen anything that gets into the international news at least about movements or even speeches by anyone, certainly not of prominent national makers and shakers. I may be wrong but why hasn’t Al Gore picked up on this? And what better person could there be than Barak Obama? His mother is Dutch. What a golden PR opportunity for him to visit the Netherlands and pick up this torch from the Dutch and carry it throughout American and indeed world politics? A medium to massive switch to biking would be of many times more ecological and health benefits than the symbolic gestures of not driving somewhere on vacation, etc.
I would be surprised, shocked really if there is not already some substantial liaison between American and Dutch biking societies. If you or anyone needs assistance in finding such NL contacts I would be happy to put you in contact with the various appropriate organizations and politicians all of whom will speak excellent English. Conversely I would be interested in knowing the best websites and contacts besides your good selves who are effectively active in these biking issues. Mr. Ryberg, may I be of assistance to you?
October 23rd, 2008 at 9:46 pm
eric ryberg formerly of Idaho — hydee ho
October 17th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
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