Doctor sentenced to 5 years in prison for assaulting bicyclists in Brentwood

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. He said he believed that Thompson had shown a lack of remorse during the case and that the victims were particularly vulnerable while riding their bicycles.

The case against Thompson, 60, has drawn close scrutiny from bicycle riders around the country, many of whom viewed the outcome as a test of the justice system's commitment to protecting cyclists.

Millington said he did not take into account more than 270 e-mails and letters from cyclists that were filed with the court urging a tough sentence.

The July 4, 2008, crash also highlighted simmering tensions between cyclists and residents along Mandeville Canyon Road, the winding five-mile residential street where the crash took place.

One cyclist was flung face-first into the rear window of Thompson's red Infiniti, breaking his front teeth and nose and cutting his face. The other cyclist slammed into the sidewalk and suffered a separated shoulder.

At his sentencing hearing at the county's airport branch court, Thompson cited the Bible in urging cyclists and residents of Mandeville Canyon to try to resolve their differences peacefully.

"If my incident shows anything it's that confrontation leads to an escalation of hostilities," Thompson said.

Thompson, a former emergency room physician who described the crash as a terrible accident, testified during his trial last year that he and other Mandeville Canyon residents were upset that some cyclists rode dangerously and acted disrespectfully toward residents and motorists along the street, a popular route for bike riders.

On the day of the crash, Thompson said he was driving down the road on his way to work when several cyclists swore at him and flipped him off as he called on them to ride single file. He said he stopped his car to take a photo to identify the riders and never intended to hurt anyone.

But the cyclists said the doctor was acting aggressively from the start. They said he honked loudly from behind them and passed by dangerously close as they moved to ride single file before he pulled in front and braked hard.

A police officer told jurors that shortly after the crash that Thompson said he slammed on his brakes in front of the riders to "teach them a lesson."

Prosecutors said Thompson had a history of run-ins with bike riders, including a similar episode four months before the crash when two cyclists told police that the doctor tried to run them off the road and braked suddenly in front of them. Neither of the riders was injured.

Jurors convicted Thompson in November of mayhem; assault with a deadly weapon, his car; battery with serious injury; and reckless driving causing injury.

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-- Jack Leonard at the L.A. County airport courthouse

Photo: Christopher Thompson weeps as a judge sentences him to five years in prison for assaulting two bicyclists by slamming on his car brakes after a confrontation on a narrow Brentwood road. Credit: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Zé]

I hike, bike, run, walk, and drive a car.

You can't attempt to seriously injure someone. It's really that simple.

That said, fellow cyclists, why don't you try to obey some of the laws a little better? You know, like not riding through red lights? Do you think pissing off motorists really helps? Quit thinking about yourself, and think about the cycling community as a whole.

Motorists, you don't rule the road. Don't try to intimidate.

[john]

i ride my bike to work almost everyday for the 20 years. i'm not a hipster or in style, just doing my part to save money and teach my kids you have options. once a month, without fail i run across a rude ,mean or nasty car driver and in the last 5 years drivers texting or talking on phones... car drivers need to share the road and pay attention

[Jessica]

I do feel a twinge of sympathy for Thompson.

I live in Santa Monica and some of the cyclists can be so disrespectful. Blocking the road by riding side-by-side is not in the spirit of "sharing the road." Sometimes I am going to work or taking my children to school when this occurs, and have to drive slowly behind them. I need to go places whilst they are out for recreation, and that shows a lack of respect for local residents who pay for the roads they ride on.

No one should ever be hurt, but the respect must be mutual.

[Cyclist1]

I hope this is a wake up call to other motorist. Their Vehicles are deadly weapons if used in anger against cyclist. There are no winners in these situations.

[Michael Yee]

The courts acted properly. Now it's time for the the doctor to lose his license to practice medicine. He does not ahere to the principals that guide us in the medical profession.

Dr. Michael Yee
Trans-America cyclist

[Erik Gruenwedel]

The sentence fits the crime. Dr. Thompson's tears are insincere and more likely due to a sobering realization that personal responsibility just slammed on the brakes.

[Brad Douty]

It appears that the judge has caved in to the blood lust of the world wide lynch mob of 'peace loving' cyclists, who without any medical training, have gone for the jugular of a man who has devoted his life to helping humanity. His life and the life of his family is essentially over. It seems he is going to have to pay for the thousands of unresolved and previously unpunished incidents that have been going on for years between motorist and cyclist.
I can only hope now that the 'fair and equitable' court will decide to go after all the cyclists who called in threats (death and bodily harm?) and intimidation's to the doctor and his family and forced him to move for fear for his life.

[mikeohara]

Mandeville Canyon is very narrow, with no pedestrian or bike lanes much of the way; a few spots have sidewalks. Cars and bikes alike travel too fast on the road. I strongly recommend against hiking up or down it; it's dangerous for pedestrians.

I won't comment on this case, but bikers would get a lot more respect from drivers if the bikers tried to observe the rules of the road more often. It's often as if bikers exalt the rules only when they favor them, then blow through red lights, don't signal, use the wrong lane, etc., when it's more convenient. On the mountain trails where I hike, however, I have found most mountain bikers to be exceedingly courteous.

[Malorie]

The doctor got exactly what he deserved he's glad no one was killed.

[M.]

A couple of years ago, an acquaintance's husband died when a driver slammed on his brakes for a similar reason, and my friend's husband, a cyclist, flew threw the driver's back window. Horribly gruesome.

The doctor is lucky he is getting only five years. Instead, he could be living with a longer term and the guilt of having killed someone. This is indeed a wake-up call for any driver who thinks that slamming his/her brakes in front of a cyclist is a way to "teach a lesson."

[monica]

as a runner, i have qualms with cyclists who think they own the road and have no respect for others, runners and drivers, who try to use it.

[Brett W]

This sentence was what he deserved. In no way was this an accident, he was out to hurt people and that deserves jail time. He also illustrated a history of trying to hurt people with his car so I completely disagree with Dennis Manuel. As a cyclist I think this is a positive for the community as it opens up peoples eyes that cyclists do have a right to use city streets.

[CD]

To Dennis Manuel,
Totally disagree. This ER physician said he slammed on his brakes in front of them to "teach them a lesson." In the heat of the moment he lost it, and used his car as a deadly weapon. His sentence is appropriate and should teach motorists that cyclists too share the road with them. If a motoristis is upset with a cyclist, for what ever reason, they should call the police, not use their cars as weapons.

Have you seen the victims of the accident?

http://laist.com/2008/07/07/road_rage_motorist_vs_cyclists_on_m.php

[Greg]

What he did was use his car as a weapon and nearly killed two people, how is five years to much of a sentence? Get real.

[barry]

Oops, I got this mixed up with a different road rage story.

This should merely be attempted murder. What else do you call it?

[Meryl]

Dennis: we have to start thinking of cars as deadly weapons. If he had swung a bat at them to "teach them a lesson" and accidentally made contact with their faces, would you feel the same way?

[Christopher W.]

@Dennis Manuel - If someone pulls in front of you and slams on their brakes with the intention of intimidating another driver, or causing an accident, that's reckless driving/endangerment, and is grounds for criminal charges.

In this case, I hope the cyclist follow up with civil suits against this disgrace of a doctor.

[chris hammer]

fives years seems just right after he already had the same run-in four months ago, Obviously he hasnt learned his lesson. dennis manuel this isnt about someone braking too quickly it's about braking to cause injury. He was in a car and they were on high speed bikes on a major road. YOu dont see the difference??? he gets what he deserved.

[John]

You people are insane. 5 years? I could less time for first degree armed robbery (say, walking into a liquor store and robbing the place with a shotgun). Who's a greater risk to society?

[Erik G.]

Correction, if you drive around someone, pull in front and then brake, it's YOUR fault:

"They said he honked loudly from behind them and passed by dangerously close as they moved to ride single file before he pulled in front and braked hard."

That's vehicular assault. And any ER doctor knows that.

I am sure the doctor will be able to work off his sentence in the prison clinic. And he'll get out in 18 months.

[John]

julie | January 08, 2010 at 11:41 AM, I'm not sure how the cyclists could have been more considerate. They were going 30 mph, the speed limit. Even if they weren't going that fast, there is also no law requiring cyclists to ride single file.

If you're almost hitting other road users, maybe you should be more vigilant and watch your speed.

[Brad]

I'm fine with cyclists having equal rights on the road, but that means equal responsibilities as well. Ride single file. Stop at stop signs. Use hand signals. I NEVER see cyclists doing these things any more. The traffic laws apply to bicycles as well as cars.

[WOw]

5 years is wayyyyyyy too harsh.

Even 1 year is ridiculous for something like this. Although what he did was wrong, who knows if the bicyclists were instigating a confrontation.

[Mike]

A tragic story. One instance of failing to control one's behavior lead to this mess.

I wonder if the doctor could go back in time and peacefully follow cyclists down the canyon road at 30 mph each day from that moment until now, would he do it instead of violently asserting his frustration? Of course he would.

And to Dennis Manuel: Our prisons are filled with people who didn't consider the consequences of their actions. Prison is the place for people who can't control their destructive impulses. Dr. Maniac belongs in prison. He, as a professional medic and a highly educated, elite member of society, should be held to a HIGHER standard of conduct than others. Privilege should not be license to impose one's sense of justice on others. The penalty for blocking the road is grievous bodily injury caused by crashing into the back of an automobile on a bicycle at high speed? Is that how our system works? Only a warped sense of morality would feature the perpetrator of such an act going free on a work-release program. No, he deserves the hardcore jail time. Perhaps you would be on-board with his sentence if the men who were injured were members of your family.

[Len]

"They could've stopped in time, so it's the cyclists" fault?!? Are you KIDDING ME?

Wake up, ace. The doctor pulled RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM AND SLAMMED ON THE BRAKES! The whole IDEA was to NOT give the cyclists time to brake!

Talk about blaming the victims. The doc was a lunatic with a history of this exact kind of behavior, and some ppl are actually trying to defend him? Wow.

No doubt there are a few rude cyclists out there, but attempted murder is not an appropriate response, unless one is pro-psychopath.

I would be in favor of a law against cyclists riding more than two abreast, and a crackdown on cyclists who do things like run stop signs, but by the same token, I'd also like to see a crackdown on vehicular assault and aggro drivers. Too many drivers freak out and get super-enraged if a cyclist holds them up for even a second, there's really no excuse for that mindset either.