(Photo by Los Angeles Times).
Yesterday, 'Road Rage' Dr. Christopher Thomspon was sentenced to five years in jail for intentionally causing a crash which hospitalized two cyclists on July 4, 2008 in Mandeville Canyon, Los Angeles County, CA. Thompson received a two year sentence for assault with a deadly weapon and a three year enhancement for causing great bodily injury, reports Streetsblog.
On a Fourth of July ride in the 2008 a group of bicyclists were riding in the normal traffic lane, as they're legally allowed to do, when the irate Thompson approached them from behind and began honking at the group, selfishly expecting the group of cycling road users to submit to the hegemonic power of his automobile. Reportedly, in response to Thompson's ignorant behavior 'words were exchanged,' and justifiably so. Thompson then passed the group of cyclists, pulled in front of them, and then slammed on his brakes to purposely cause a deadly collision which sent two cyclists at the front of the group crashing into Thompson's luxury sedan (pictured below).
The cyclists who were vehicularly assaulted were Ron Peterson, an experienced cyclist, racer, and a Traffic Skills instructor, and Christian Stoehr whose also an experienced cyclist and racer. The vehicular assault sent Mr. Peterson face-first into the rear window. As a result, Mr. Peterson's nose was tore off and had to be reattached--graphically depicted below.
(The two photos above are re-published courtesy of Streetsblog).
As the cyclists laid in the street with blood profusely pouring from Mr. Peterson's face , the audio tapes of a 911 call reveal that Thompson yelled at the cyclists and told them to take their bikes out of the street. Furthermore, Thompson lied to the 911 dispatcher by telling the dispatcher that the cyclists were fine even though he, as a trained emergency room doctor, could evidently see otherwise.
Both cyclists are now recovering fairly well.
Interestingly, Thompson's Mandeville Canyon neighbors rose to his defense and claimed that cyclists on the road were the real problem. The implication of his neighbors' statements is that public roads are supposed to be for motorists only, and not for cyclists. The fact that some neighbors came to defend Thompson's attempt to murder cyclists practicing their legal rights to the road, indicates that extreme auto-centric, motorists-first, cyclists-last group-think school-of-thought has had a socially contagious effect on a number of Mandeville Canyon residents.
Thompson has a history of attempts to vehicularly assault/murder cyclists. Three months prior to the July 4 incident, on the very same Mandeville Canyon road, Thompson pulled in front of a solo rider and slammed on his brakes. That cyclist avoided Thompson by bunny-hopping onto the curb. Fortunately, the cyclist filed a police report in response to the incident.
On July 4, Thompson struck again. Thompson originally pleaded not guilty to the July 4-related charges filed against him.
It's a breakthrough that this tragic incident is getting wide media coverage.
We hope that the message is clear: If you assault or act violently towards cyclists while using your car as a weapon, then you will be sentenced to jail.
Finally, some justice has been served.
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