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.

ALSO:

Sally Ride paved way for women, made 'important difference'

Latino leaders say Anaheim a 'powder keg' after police shootings

Mountain lion kills year-old shepherd mix named Cookie in Glendale

-- 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

[reywalwen]

have to agree w/Nicole - "He hurt people on purpose. End of story."

[woodman]

"He hurt people on purpose. End of story."
How perfect is this statement.

[merryjoe]

He should have gotten more than five years. He admitted guilt to every charge -- until he got to trial. Then he concocted his unbelievable story.

Should have given him 8 to 10 years. And taken away his medical license.

[jauntyjackalope]

Our justice system is such a failure. Escalating rates of repeat offense should show people that incarceration does not rehabilitate offenders OR "teach them a lesson". As a road cyclist and motorist I'm outraged by his behaviour myself, but I don't feel safer knowing he's in prison.

In a more sane world, we would rehabilitate more often than we would incarcerate. Guys like this would be put on parole with their driving licenses permanently revoked and would have obligatory counseling and many hours of obligatory community-service related to the nature of their crime. This would save money and have a higher success rate than jail-time.

[smeyeah]

He should appeal. The last time I checked the law is on the side of the individual who was rear-ended. The person to the rear (car, motorcycle, or bicycle) has the legal duty to be in control of their vehicle and be able to stop their vehicle in time to avoid running into the vehicle in front. That's why if you rear end someone you are always legally liable...whether you slipped on ice, couldn't see, etc.

Regarding the bicyclists, I don't think it was necessary for one of them to yell an expletive. That person made the situation worse with their rudeness. Believe it or not, bicyclists have a duty to follow the traffic regulations just like cars. All too often I see bicyclists run a red light and dart in front of my vehicle and give me a dirty look as if I had run the light. If the person were in a vehicle instead of on a bike, there would be no question that they were in the wrong. Why does that change just because the person is on a bicycle? One time I was trying to pull onto a busy street. Another motorist had the courtesy to stop and let me out. A group of bicyclists behind the motorist passed him to the right even though they must have known he was letting me out.

[Online Defensive Driving Course NY]

Online Defensive Driving Course NY - 100% online NYS Defensive Driving Course makes you eligible to reduce as many as 4 points on your driving record and gets 10% auto insurance reduction for 3 years.

[Thai]

smeyeah: Do you really think the judge got that wrong? That the judge didn't know that it's up to people not to rear end others?

The problem here is that he wasn't in front of them the whole time. He drove around them and then suddenly slammed on his brakes. That's one of the exceptions to the rule of thumb about the person in the rear being responsible (the other one being that if the one in front backs into the guy behind him, the one in the front is responsible).

If you change lanes right in front of them and slam on your brakes, it's YOUR fault (legally and morally) the accident occurs.