Breaking news: Road rage doctor guilty of assaulting cyclists
A doctor has been found guilty of slamming on his brakes in a deliberate attempt to injure two cyclists (BikeRadar)
A driver has been found guilty of injuring two cyclists in a road rage attack. Jurors in Los Angeles heard that Dr Christopher Thompson deliberately slammed on his car's brakes moments after overtaking the pair.
The riders did not have enough space to stop or swerve. One rode into the rear windscreen of the car, breaking his nose and front teeth. The other crashed into the kerb and injured his shoulder.
Thompson was convicted of six felonies, including assault with a deadly weapon, and one misdemeanour. He was remanded in custody pending sentencing. The incident happened on Mandeville Canyon Road, LA, on 4 July 2008.
Full story to follow.
User Comments
There are 8 comments on this post
Showing 1 - 8 of 8 comments
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MadammeMarie
Posted Tue 3 Nov, 11:14 am UTC Flag as inappropriate
Possible jail term!! Wish we could say "he will certainly go to jail for GBH"!
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MrRex
Posted Tue 3 Nov, 11:33 am UTC Flag as inappropriate
good to see that the car is classified as a deadly weapon in the USA
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ex-pat scot
Posted Tue 3 Nov, 12:17 pm UTC Flag as inappropriate
Just glad he got caught and convicted.
What's the chance of that kind of behaviour getting caught here? Tiny, I suspect.
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rik08
Posted Tue 3 Nov, 12:53 pm UTC Flag as inappropriate
Wish UK law was as strict, out last night and some tw#t decided to overtake, slam on the brakes and make a left hand turn giving me about 1ft to avoid him, and yes, it was a BMW driver !!!
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Stuntman
Posted Tue 3 Nov, 2:23 pm UTC Flag as inappropriate
Sould've got his number plate and contacted the police for dangerous driving. The guy in the USA will end up suing the cyclist for distraction and causing depression. well... that's normally the case that the guilty get off and the innocent end up worse off.
Hopefully a jail term. In the UK the judge would probably say that there's no room in a prison for someone using a deadly weapon and give the guy some community work to do.
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captainsnappy
Posted Tue 3 Nov, 6:39 pm UTC Flag as inappropriate
In America, a car is not classified as a deadly weapon rather the guilty party used the car as a potentially deadly weapon against others.
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derekbiggerstaff
Posted Wed 4 Nov, 12:01 pm UTC Flag as inappropriate
A motorist tried to do this to me once, on a fast downhill strech. Fortunately I just managed to swerve round him. I had a witness, so we reported the incident to the police. Not interested!! When I looked into it a few days later they had not even logged the report.
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smittyjs
Posted Wed 4 Nov, 12:47 pm UTC Flag as inappropriate
This guy had been having issues with cyclists using "his" road. In the past he had tried the same thing. Not often will the police here in the states do anything unless there is injury.
When he passed them he had a shouting match with them. This also happened with other riders. When he passed them he had to exceed the speed limit as they were going 30 mph.
Just seconds, (by his own admission) he stopped slamming on his breaks in the traffic lane. The guy who went through the back window had his nose almost severed from his face. It took 7 hours to sew everything back in place.
The good doctor will get jail time, the maximum is 10 years but as he has a clean prior record it will be less. I'd guess 2 years with time for good behavior. He'll serve 2/3 of the sentence.
( Personally a guy ran a red light, hit me, left the scene but caught later. His sentence, 60 days, with work release and time for good behavior. Me, I needed complete knee reconstruction. By-the-way, he was a 5 time convicted felon, on both parole and probation in two different states. It took 2 years to bring him to court because he fled bail.)
With this conviction now he will be libel for damages in civil court and I'm hoping end up penniless.
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