Trial underway for Los Angeles doctor who slammed on brakes, injured two cyclists
You probably remember this story LA Times, (Dec. 12), TBL Post
The trial is underway now in Los Angeles. From today’s LA Times Article:
A bicyclist testified Friday that a Brentwood doctor deliberately slammed on his car brakes in an effort to injure him and a companion last year as they rode down a narrow stretch of Mandeville Canyon Road in Brentwood.
Christian Stoehr recalled hearing the engine noise of an approaching car and then an “angry honk” of a horn. When he and a fellow rider fell into single file to let the driver past, Stoehr testified that the motorist zoomed up alongside them, exchanged angry words and then pulled in front of them and hit his brakes.
Stoehr and his bicycling partner, Ron Peterson, were injured in the July 2008 accident when they struck the Infiniti sedan. Stoehr was catapulted and flew over the car, landing on the pavement. In a preliminary hearing in December, Peterson testified that he crashed through the car’s rear window.
Christopher Thomas Thompson, a 60-year-old physician, faces one felony count of reckless driving causing injury and two felony counts of battery with serious injury. He also faces one count of misdemeanor reckless driving causing injury in an incident with another cyclist on the same road in March 2008. If convicted on all counts, he could face up to five years in state prison.
Thompson has pleaded not guilty. His attorney, Peter Swarth, has characterized the incident as an “unfortunate accident.”
“Unfortunate accidents” seem to be getting a lot of play lately.
Thanks Leo for reminding me about this.
—Erik Ryberg
October 17th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
wow. and he allegedly has done something very similar before!
http://the17thman.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/07/not-the-first-time-for-dr-christopher-thomas-thompson.html
What kind of doctor would do this?
October 17th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
The good “doctor” has sunk himself. He told a cop at the scene he did it on purpose to “teach a lesson” to the cyclists.
I hope they flog him with bicycle chains.
October 17th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Opus; perhaps chainsaw chains would be more fitting. As both a driver and a cyclist, I simply do not understand the “hate-on” many drivers have for cyclists.
October 19th, 2009 at 9:42 am
So may in this county feel that have ownership of everything they come into contact with, ie the road in this case and that we cyclist are in someway taking away from them by our just being there. We even have a sheriff here in Colorado that fought the Bike Safety bill as he felt his deputies could not enforce the 3′ law as the could not determine what 3′ was. But he also pushed for a bill to ban cyclist from any road less the 12′ wide. So they can determine 12′ but not 3?
Some people are just hatters.
October 26th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
prosecution rests, the defense begins today:
http://www.velonews.com/article/99537/prosecution-rest-in-la-road-rage-case-defense-will-call