Emergency room Dr. Christopher Thompson was found guilty today on all seven counts against him in a road rage case, including assault with a deadly weapon-his car, reckless driving, mayhem, and battery with serious bodily injury.
The incident took place on July fourth of last year during a group ride up Mandeville Canyon Road, a six mile country style road where Dr. Thompson lives.
Thompson was fed up with cyclist riding up and down the canyon road, he had previous negative encounters with cyclist where he used his car as a weapon against them. A report was filed with the LAPD against him for doing so.
On the fourth of July last year, Dr. Thompson encountered a group of 300 cyclist riding their bicycles down the canyon road, most of the riders were doing the speed limit of 30MPH. Thompson passed them on the opposite side of the road yelling obscenities at the group, then suddenly slammed on his brakes of his Infiniti sedan causing two cyclist to crash into him. One rider, Ron Peterson flew through the rear window of Thompson's car. Ron's nose was nearly ripped from his face and his front teeth were found inside the car, his face still is marred with scars from over 90 stitches. The other rider, Christina Stoer, suffered a broken shoulder and is still terrified to ride his bike. He used to ride two hours a day, everyday. Thompson's car was covered in blood.
Dr. Thompson is facing 10 years of prison time for his crimes and was remanded into custody by the court, because he was deemed a flight risk.
Outside the courthouse, the cyclist somberly spoke about the case briefly.
Photographs and footage by Ted Soqui @ 2009
Court pool photographs by Mel Melcon, LA Times.
