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Doctor sentenced to 5 years in prison for assaulting bicyclists in Brentwood
LA Times ^

Posted on 01/10/2010 9:51:23 PM PST by Chet 99

A doctor convicted of assaulting two bicyclists by slamming on his car brakes after a confrontation on a narrow Brentwood road was sentenced today to five years in prison.

Christopher Thompson, wearing dark blue jail scrubs, wept as he apologized to the injured cyclists shortly before he was sentenced.

"I would like to apologize deeply, profoundly from the bottom of my heart," he told them, his right hand cuffed to a court chair.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Scott T. Millington called the case a "wake-up call" to motorists and cyclists and urged local government to provide riders with more bike lanes.

(Excerpt) Read more at latimesblogs.latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: activistjudge; bicyclists; criticalmass; roadrage
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To: Plutarch

The driver in that case was not crimially charged because (to quote the officer):

“Deputy Chief Bennett told News 4 WOAI the office’s hands are tied. He said under current law, unless a driver is drunk or high, it is difficult to prove recklessness. And legally, charges can not be filed for “an unfortunate accident.””

In particular, it looked like there was a nasty and unexpected curve in the road.

He’s obviously civilly liable, but there is no reason to charge him criminally.


121 posted on 01/11/2010 1:14:36 PM PST by TheThirdRuffian (Nothing to see here. Move along.)
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To: Fresh Wind; fireman15
In post 94 he didn't say "the cyclist is never at fault", he said he has never seen a situation where the cyclist was at fault. I expect his experience with responding to accidents holds a tad more empirical weight than your "idiot-rider at a crosswalk fact".

No thinking person would say the cyclist is never at fault. But accidents where the cyclist is at fault are very very rare. That is a fact.

That guy on the bike who nearly hit you was a careless jerk - no argument. But your experience doesn’t change reality even if it is sandwiched between all of the bike hating vitriol that shows up on these discussions.

You go ahead and lobby lawmakers and insurance companies for mandatory bicycle liability insurance. I'm confident Dems will like the idea, particularly if they can tax it. It will probably be $5 per year with $4.95 of that for plan administration. Then your imaginary laptop would have been paid for if you had dropped it. Heck, why don't you imagine some broken bones and some gold bridgework that was knocked out too? Whoa, that makes the need for bike liability even more necessary!

Tell ya what - you imagine I wrecked your computer - let's make it a mac-book pro - I'm feeling generous today - and I'll imagine I paid for its replacement.

122 posted on 01/11/2010 1:42:32 PM PST by 70times7 (Serving Free Republics' warped and obscure humor needs since 1999!)
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To: stinkerpot65
5 years is ridiculous.

Yep.

123 posted on 01/11/2010 2:15:31 PM PST by GATOR NAVY
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To: 70times7

“Sounds to me like too many liberals ride bikes...”

Liberal part of town, near Beechwood Plaza. This guy WAS just being a jerk. He rode right down the center of the single eastbound lane, and you couldn’t pass because of very heavy west-bound traffic.


124 posted on 01/11/2010 2:16:10 PM PST by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra ( Ya can't pick up a turd by the clean end!)
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To: buccaneer81

“Reporting for duty. 90% of the bike riders in my area are complete a**holes.”

I agree - they’re always plugging up the front grill on my Maserati!!


125 posted on 01/11/2010 2:18:56 PM PST by rockthecasbah (He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat.)
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To: fireman15
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/22/MNU3VOB22.DTL&hw=bicycle&sn=001&sc=1000 " Data collected by the California Highway Patrol show that bicyclists were deemed at fault in 1,165, or nearly 60 percent, of the 1,997 accidents that killed or severely injured cyclists; drivers were blamed only 520 times, or 26 percent. In most other cases, no one was listed as being at fault." FWIW I always try to be aware of the cyclists zooming around downtown. I've seen MANY near-misses (with cars and pedestrians) almost all of which have been the cyclist violating a traffic law. I'm sure some cyclists obey all the laws, but I've never actually seen one.
126 posted on 01/11/2010 2:27:56 PM PST by Hoodlum91 (There's a strange odor coming from the White House. Smells like BO.)
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To: Chet 99

Good deal. The bastard deserves every day of his sentence.


127 posted on 01/11/2010 3:06:07 PM PST by bigbob
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To: Fresh Wind
I am sorry that you had a bad experience where you were nearly injured. Of course there are persons who are jerks who ride bicycles. They make me just as mad as you. The difference is that a jerk driving a 4,000 - 40,000 pound motor vehicle is far more dangerous than a jerk riding a 20 pound bicycle. My work experience confirms that. I have responded to thousands of motor vehicle accidents over the past twenty years and seen more serious injuries and deaths than I care to remember. I have also been to bicyclists and pedestrians who have been seriously injured or killed. But in over twenty years I have never been to any accidents or incidents where a bicyclist was at fault and caused injury or damage. I am not saying that it doesn't ever happen, but judging from my experience it is a very rare occurrence.

The percentage of jerks on bicycles is probably similar to the percentage of jerks driving motor vehicles. The jerks are just a whole lot less dangerous when they are on a bicycle than when they are driving. I would suggest that when you see someone cycling in a way that you perceive is dangerous to others that you should feel very thankful that they are on a bicycle and not driving a car. In fact there are many scofflaws who have lost their driving privileges who are riding now bicycles.

I have responded to calls where someone under the influence of alcohol or drugs fell off of a bicycle or small scooter. Theoretically they were placing others in danger, but in my experience they only ended up injuring themselves. Should we judge all gun owners because criminals use guns to commit crimes? If you see an idiot on a bicycle please be glad they are not driving a motor vehicle. Do not unfairly judge other cyclists because you saw a jerk or were inconvenienced by a jerk on a bicycle.

128 posted on 01/11/2010 3:06:12 PM PST by fireman15 (Check your facts before making ignorant statements.)
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To: 70times7
If I see that a car at a cross street waiting on me I will get out of the saddle and sprint. It may only gain them couple of seconds, but good will is involved.

And sometimes the animosity towards cyclists is due to misunderstanding. I remember one time I had a car behind me while I was cycling up a hill. Knowing the driver couldn't see what was on the other side of the hill, I got out of the saddle and sprinted to the top so it would be a couple fewer seconds before he could see what was coming. Well, he apparently thought my sprinting was intended to make his life more difficult because when he got beside me to pass he laid on the horn for what seemed like an eternity. Sigh.

129 posted on 01/11/2010 3:11:53 PM PST by KevinB (The trouble with liberals isnÂ’t that they're ignorant; it's that they know so much that isn't so.)
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To: LoneRangerMassachusetts
The answer is to license all bicyclists, and make every bike ridden on public streets have a license plate. Then use THAT money to build bike lanes, then make it mandatory for cyclists to use them. My state has wasted millions on bike lanes, but the bicyclists still ride in the traffic lanes.

Licensing bicyclists would also take away their anonymity. They can identify me by my license plate, but I have no way of identifying a law-breaking bicylist.

130 posted on 01/11/2010 3:18:13 PM PST by holyscroller ( Without God, America is one nation under)
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To: Hoodlum91
The article that you have linked to has statistics that do not even remotely correlate with my own experience. Bay area cyclists may have a culture that encourages bad behavior or persons quoted in the article may have a valid point.

I quote from the article:
“Bicycling advocates said the statistics might in part reflect a bias among police officers, who they say often “blame the victims,” especially because cyclists might not get to tell their side of the story as they are being carried off on stretchers.

“There is a prevalent perception among police officers that bikes don't belong on the road,” said Leah Shahum, executive director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition.

Yet even the most staunch cycling advocates acknowledge that some cyclists give others a bad name by failing to obey traffic laws.

“When I see a rider run a red light, I cringe,” Shahum said. “Not only is it totally unsafe, it makes me and all other cyclists look bad.”

131 posted on 01/11/2010 3:23:20 PM PST by fireman15 (Check your facts before making ignorant statements.)
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To: a fool in paradise

In Seattle where I drive a lot there are lots of bikers - most of whom ride pretty well. It is the Critical Morons bike group that is giving bicycling a bad rep.

They are the smug pr!cks who intentionally seek confrontations with everyone around them (not just cagers). In the burbs I never seem to encounter bikers with ‘tudes.


132 posted on 01/11/2010 4:13:36 PM PST by rockrr (Everything is different now...)
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To: Hoodlum91
After reading the article a second time my experience may correlate more closely with the statistics cited. I have been to very few cycling fatalities and quite a few injuries. The first cyclist fatality that I went to... the cyclist slowed and swerved further into the roadway to cross railroad tracks at a perpendicular angle. A semi-truck doing approximately 40 mph struck him and he was killed. The driver said he never even saw the cyclist. In that case the cyclist was found to be at fault.

I have been to other incidents that where cyclists have been hit from behind and the drivers have not been ticketed. I am also aware of situations where drivers have not noticed a cyclist as they were entering the roadway from a driveway or side street and have pulled into the path of an oncoming cyclist where the officer did not issue a ticket because they felt the cyclist was difficult to see. I once went to an accident where a cyclist had a green light and was struck by a car who entered the crosswalk on the red, where the officer determined the cyclist was at fault because he said the cyclist should have been walking in the crosswalk not riding.

So my perception of who was at fault at a bicycle vs motor vehicle accident may sometimes vary greatly from the investigating police officer. In my point of view, a motor vehicle who strikes a cyclist from behind is usually at fault. If a car takes a right turn when there is a cyclist next to him... it is the car's fault. If a car makes a left turn in front of a cyclist because the driver didn't see him... it is the car's fault. If a car pulls out of a driveway into the path of a cyclist... it is the car's fault. In all of these scenarios I am aware of many situations where no ticket was issued to the car.

As many of those hostile to cyclists posted in this very thread, dead cyclists tell no tales, so the victim is often blamed for the accident. So on second thought I am not so surprised by the statistics cited.

133 posted on 01/11/2010 4:13:36 PM PST by fireman15 (Check your facts before making ignorant statements.)
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To: rockrr

“In Seattle where I drive a lot there are lots of bikers - most of whom ride pretty well. It is the Critical Morons bike group that is giving bicycling a bad rep.”

I agree completely. When my wife was working on Mercer Island she came into contact with those idiots while she was driving and was very shaken by their bad behavior. But most of the riders you meet on the Interurban Trail or in the outlying area where we live are very considerate. The thing that I have noticed that seems unusual is that the average age of cyclists one sees on the paths or roads in outlying areas are 30 or older. The average age has increased dramatically over the years.


134 posted on 01/11/2010 4:21:00 PM PST by fireman15 (Check your facts before making ignorant statements.)
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To: fireman15

This happened a few blocks from where I had my little problem:

http://cbs3.com/topstories/biker.fatal.hit.2.1273313.html

So, yes, cycle-pedestrian accidents happen, and the results can be just as bad as if a car was involved. Philadelphia is cracking down on cyclists because of situations like this. I’d rather it didn’t have to be that way, and I certainly don’t really want any more government mandates, but problems don’t often resolve themselves automatically.

Statistically, such accidents are comparatively rare as you say, but don’t try to tell that to the dead guy’s family.

I always try to be respectful of the people with whom I must share the road. I hope I never again get into one of these situations, and I sure hope I don’t ever need the services of someone like you.

I know yours is not always a pleasant job, but thanks for doing it!


135 posted on 01/11/2010 5:27:52 PM PST by Fresh Wind ("...a whip of political correctness strangles their voice"-Vaclav Klaus on GW skeptics)
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To: buccaneer81

I’ve been run off the road, in a bike lane, by some idiot who never stopped. Broke my collarbone. I have yet to encounter these nazi bicylce riders, and this is after living in south Florida for the last four years, where they’re on the road 11 months. I’ve seen bad drivers and bad riders across the country. Neither one justifies the other, but a guy in a car will never be killed because a bicycle ran into him.


136 posted on 01/11/2010 6:41:58 PM PST by sig226 (Bring back Jimmy Carter!)
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To: sig226
but a guy in a car will never be killed because a bicycle ran into him.

Agreed, but he may be killed making an evasive maneuver to avoid a thoughtless cyclist.

137 posted on 01/11/2010 7:25:43 PM PST by buccaneer81 (ECOMCON)
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To: holyscroller

Most conservatives are thinking of ways to lower taxes and you’re trying to find a way to tax me more. What’s wrong with this picture?


138 posted on 01/12/2010 4:46:39 PM PST by Melas
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