LA doctor gets 5 years in prison for road rage against cyclists

Source: The Oregonian

A former emergency room doctor who deliberately braked so that two bicyclists rammed into his car in a road rage assault was sentenced Friday to five years in state prison. Christopher Thompson, 60, wept and apologized to the two injured riders before he was sentenced in Los Angeles County Superior Court. "The physical and mental scars are my fault," he said.

He has recurring nightmares about one cyclist smashing through his car window, Thompson said. Prosecutors had sought an eight-year term while Thompson's attorney argued for probation. Thompson, who worked at Beverly Hospital in Montebello, has been jailed since he was convicted in November of assault with a deadly weapon, battery with serious bodily injury, reckless driving and mayhem.

Thompson deliberately hit his brakes, causing the bicyclists to hit the back of his Infiniti sedan on July 4, 2008, prosecutors said. One rider smashed through the back window, breaking his nose and front teeth. The other crashed to the pavement, separating his shoulder. Ron Peterson, who crashed through the window, told the judge that he was permanently scarred.

"My nose was nearly torn from my face. ... I've had plastic surgery," he said. "The scars on my face remind me of the pain and trauma I went through because Dr. Thompson didn't like cyclists riding on his road." At trial, Thompson said that he and other Brentwood residents were angry because some bicyclists were ignoring stop signs or riding abreast, impeding cars on narrow Mandeville Canyon Road. "If my incident shows anything, it's that confrontation leads to an escalation of hostilities," Thompson said in court.

Read more: http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/01/la_doctor_gets_5_years_in_pris.html

I guess that's something.

Sorry he almost killed someone or sorry he's losing his million dollar house?

Could be all three.

I have zero sympathy for him. He swore an oath to do no harm..

I've seen plenty of idiots who harass cyclists
for using "their" roads.
I've been following this story at Bicycling dot etc
and this guy deserves more time than he's getting.

particularly considering that he's already lost his livelihood, likely his house and will face a huge civil judgment.

Personally, I think a county lid (a year in jail- as opposed to prison) would have been punishment enough- though I understand that the case is a cause célèbre and the judge and the prosecution felt the need to set an example here.

if i recall earlier reporting correctly, although it was his first formally charged offense, there was a previous incident where he did more or less the same thing but the cyclists managed to escape unharmed. there was a police report but no charges, presumably for lack of physical evidence.

there was also supposedly a history of verbal confrontations with cyclists on that road.

it was an ongoing feud. He took it too far when
he used his car as a weapon.

Anyone who has reflected at any time during his/her life, about the likely outcome of auto-bike collisions, realizes the cyclist is at grave disadvantage, being entirely unprotected in accidents and being significantly outweighed by the car

Death is frequent whenever contact occurs at common automative speeds

As an emergency room professional, he was better qualified than the average "reasonable person" to understand the risks associated with his acts: a face through a windshield, for example, can easily produce serious brain injury or fatal lacerations to arteries in the neck.

So his behavior exhibits wanton negligence and callous disregard

I think 5 years is justifiable.

This wasn't an accident, it was a deliberate, pre-meditated, act.

This wasn't a minor bruising incident, this caused lifetime injury, all because a guy figured he was above the law.

In fact, in Los Angeles, I often take up a whole lane to myself because the drivers literally try to hit you with their mirrors at speeds way over the limit, if you let them have most of the right hand lane. Taking up the whole lane causes them to have to pass in the other lane, which gives me some leeway on the right to avoid the assholes without hitting a hole in the road or being run off by these ignorant bastards. This "doc" should have been tried for attempted manslaughter. That road is VERY dangerous and either of these guys could just as easily have fallen into the path of a vehicle coming in the opposite direction.

And if the law allows you to ride two abreast in regular traffic lanes, whomever wrote it is an idiot.

Well, something must be done! Perhaps you should try braking quickly in front of those oh-so-aggravating 2-abreast riders?

Like stopping at stop signs. Like avoiding pedestrians. Like not weaving in and out of traffic.
:eyes:

LA traffic's bad enough without bicyclists acting like there are no rules. Am I the only one around here who gives a shit about the rules??

Project much?

Support cyclists' rights? Support sharing the road?
Then you must be an asshole who ignores all stop signs. :crazy:

Stay safe out there! :hi: As a former Angeleno, my heart goes out to anyone who tries to ride a bike in that city.

I can't tell you how many times I've almost been struck by careless drivers. If I wasn't alert at all times I'd probably be dead or seriously injured by now. The other thing I can't stand is drivers who pull all the way to the right into the bike lane when they want to turn right. If I'm behind them, my choice is to stop and wait for their dumb ass to move or swerve into the road and try to go around them. There is no reason anyone needs to pull that far over so not even a pedestrian, let alone a biker, has room to squeeze through.

As far as going through stop signs----anyone who's ever ridden a bike on city streets knows the aggravation of constantly having to stop and start at intersections and navigating through the obstacle course of careless drivers, may of whom should never have been issued licenses in the first place. I never go through a stop sign or any intersection without first making sure it is safe to do so. I think 5 years is a fair sentence in this situation. I admire the Critical Mass bicycle group operating in San Francisco. Bicyclists need to take back the streets from these "road ragers."

or, if you have a red light, wait for it to turn green for you, then proceed?

There is no excuse for harassing careful cyclists who follow the rules.

Really, there's no excuse for harassing cyclists (with autos, that is), period, but any cyclists who think traffic laws do not apply to them - especially when there are automobiles around really are begging to get the snot kicked out of them.

Maybe 5 years isn't enough prison time to set the example.

if I get stopped. Most cops however will not pull you over if you break a law but proceed safely. It is often hard to tell what a driver intends to do as many many many many drivers will not use their turn signals. So....I try to make eye contact with them and make sure they see me before I pass in front of them.

As a kid who got knocked over by some H & R asshole making a right turn, and as a driver who's been impeded by bikers riding two abreast and shooting stop signs. And I've been screamed at by someone who was not in a bike lane and pissed that I was within two feet of him. Assholes come in every vehicle imaginable.

Things hanging off the sides of cars can be very dangerous to cyclists. You know, like mirrors.

which makes the confrontation inherently unequal and unfair, but cyclists need to follow the rules of the road when on the road.

Welcome to road rage. Time to turn in your license. You have no business being in charge of a motor vehicle, a bicycle or a pogo stick.

hook if you hit one.

I can see well before I get to the intersection if any car is coming. I do stop at red lights, which many bikers do not, especially bicycle messengers. I have 44-year-old knees and constantly stopping and starting again is very aggravating. It is very easy and not at all taxing for a car driver to stop and start. Not so for a bicyclist.

In part because it's always possible that my vision was obstructed by something or that someone could come tearing out of nowhere down the street and through the intersection because he assumed, like me, that nobody would be there.

Bicyclists who do not stop at red lights are idiots who are really putting their lives at risk.

and California law says for a car making a right to merge right into the bike lane from 50 to 200 feet before making a right hand turn.

It's dangerous driving a car in LA, let alone a bicycle.

I have taken the drivers test but that was many years ago...I don't remember that in the manual. I have to confess I don't understand the need for that law. Maybe someone can explain it? It sounds silly to me; just use your blinker if you want to turn. I understand people are afraid that some other car may sneak in there ahead of them if they don't move to the right a little, but they don't need to go all the way...leave enough room for a biker!

but if a person is making a right hand turn, and it is at a traffic light that is red or a stop sigh, don't you both, the driver and the cyclist both have to stop.

The reason I ask is that one time I was turning right on a red light and had overtaken a bike in the bike lane. I was scared that he would pull up beside me and that I would not see him as I made the turn, and I would hit him, so I pulled into the bike lane so that I would definitely miss him. He yelled some obscenity at me as I turned and I was not sure why. Now, several years later, I think you have just told me why.

I had figured that if I had to stop, there was no harm in making him stop behind me instead of by my side where I would have to worry about him and oncoming traffic.

They feel the rules don't apply to them.

It's probably because most of them are wealthy, and grew up wealthy. Their sense of entitlement's big enough to block traffic going in both directions.

I participate in group rides all the time in LA, and the cyclists here come from all walks of life. Some may be wealthy, but most are not.

I agree there is a bit of hubris amongst some cyclists when it comes to traffic laws, however. Those few give the rest of us a bad reputation. Still, the number of impolite cyclists pale when compared to the number of impolite motorists.

Must be nice to live in your world. :hi:

The same idiot had been hit in the same place two years before riding on the wrong side of the road at dusk along the PCH, the guy had also been hit previously riding on I fucking 10 and successfully sued the driver.

A darwin award if there ever was one, but my friend driving the car is still screwed up from the accident. Some bloody fucker stuck in your windshield will do that to you.

Your problem is that you, thinking you were protecting the cyclist by entering the bike lane, actually ran the risk of causing him to have to brake at the last minute (and hope he could do it without running into and flipping off his bike and over your car). That is why he was not happy.

You both could have stopped, waited side by side (yeah, I know you beat him to the light, but hey) and then turned simultaneously when the light turned green, you taking great care not to hit him as he turned beside you--or just let him turn ahead of you, what the hell. You probably didn't need to be that afraid, because he would have been more afraid of you not seeing him than you were of it, and knowing he would get the worse of it if you didn't, he'd have tried as hard as possible to make sure he gave you a lot of room and was visible to you at all times.

See, I think auto drivers get in trouble sometimes when they think they're going to do something nice for the cyclist by doing A so the cyclist has to do B. And the cyclist, who wants to be treated like an equal on the road rather than being patronized, gets pissed. A lot of times this seems to have to do with who is bigger and faster ("I beat him to the light, so I'll just hog both lanes ahead of him or go into the bike lane to make sure he stops at it") but sometimes it's as minor and silly as the driver always waiting for the cyclist to enter an intersection first, even when the driver has the right of way. They both end up sitting there until the cyclist finally thanks the driver and moves.

But what I have found is that nothing pisses off drivers more than cyclists trying to make a LEGAL LEFT TURN ahead of them! Boy, do they get mad! First of all, you're not on the far right side of the road like they think you should be at all times; second; you're ahead of them at the light and YOU'RE OCCUPYING THE WHOLE LANE (um, because NOT to occupy the whole lane would be death?) and YOU'RE NOT AS FAST AS THEM so when you turn THEY WILL BE DELAYED A LITTLE BIT BEHIND YOU UNTIL YOU COMPLETE THE TURN AND GO BACK TO THE RIGHT!!!! Oh, the FURY, the RAGE!!!!

AS I was saw him in my rear view mirror and all the traffic was slowing down as it approached the red light. I also crossed into the bike lane very slowly just in case.

Good post.

The bicyclist should wait. Only an idiot with a death wish should try to pass a right-turning vehicle on the right. Sadly, that idiot designation fits too many bicyclists I see around town ...

I came really close to smacking a bicyclist who went berserk on an elderly lady in a similar circumstance. The lady was turning right in a right hand lane so she was ahead of a biker trying to pass her on the the right. The biker started beating on her rear fender while telling obscenities. When he moved around to her driver's window I had enough and jumped out of my truck to come to her defense. I was one car back and witnessed the whole incident. The biker freaked out on the little elderly lady but the biker was completely at fault. I grabbed his bike and tossed it on the sidewalk - the look on his face was priceless.

This depends on your area, of course, but yes, cars should pull ALL the way over to the right before making a turn, but not before the solid bike lane line turns broken.

Hope that helps.

I am a bit perplexed by this concept that one has the "right" to cut off the bike lane--they are separate and concurrent lanes, like any other. You may cross the bike lane when turning right, but you have no right to move into the bike lane, especially when you express intent is to cut off a rider. :wow:

preparing for a turn within 200'. I think closing off the lane is the main point: that prevents a biker from entering the turning vehicle's blind spot at the last moment. Also, it allows a vehicle that is slowing to move rightward out of the stream of traffic.

Of course, this law wouldn't give the car the right-of-way into the bike lane, I would assume it's like any other lane change and should only be done when safe to do so. So, if a cyclist is over-taking on the right it would make sense to wait until the bike was past. But, if the lane was clear and a biker caught up later then the cyclist would need to wait (slow down) until the turn was completed...

This is the first thing that occurred to me while reading. The doctor is getting what he deserves but I am astonished at what provokes a strong sentence and what does not, from state to state.

Yeah, a pointless comment but that's okay.

I do worry for him about nuts on the road and people just not paying attention. What a scumbucket.

Sometimes I wonder if the competitive urges of the male of the human species are too deeply sublimated in this society such that we (almost unconsciously) find ourselves acting competitively in wildly inappropriate situations (such as on motorways)?

I know it's happened to me, and I've stepped back and said, "What is the conflict between the car ahead of me and I, and why is it worth risking my life and the lives of others for?"

That said, taking that momentary mania a step further into a vicious assault is a step I have never even come close too...