road rage incident last weekend

[dirtmistress]

He picked the wrong riders to try and kill! Ron is well known throughout the road community and last I heard, Club LaGrange was getting a team of lawyers together to go after this guy. Whats amusing is LaGrange is about 80% lawyers.

[foofighter]

ABC 7 is doing a story on it tonight at 11

[roadkillross]

messed up!!!! quick recovery to those involved. F*ck that doc

[autoduel]

- snip -

No personal info, please.

[dirtmistress]

Originally Posted by autoduel

-snip-

The bicycle clubs are asking that we not call and harrass this guy.

[dirtmistress]

http://www.vimeo.com/1304438?pg=embed&sec=1304438

[art23rockpile]

Originally Posted by autoduel

- snip -

This is just plain wrong. Posting the guy's residence and phone number on the internet?

Foolish.

If some nut harms the guy and tells the cop he got the info from your post, YOU get a felony and possible civil suit.

Mods need to delete this for legal reasons.

[Zippo]

Originally Posted by art23rockpile

Mods need to delete this for legal reasons.

I agree as well. Even though that info is just a click away, this is not the place for vigilante justice.

[drclark]

Do you think $30K is too much or too light? I know of someone who was held on trumped up weapons charges (that were ALL eventually dismissed) and with bail set at over $500K (keep in mind, absoulutely no one was injured). I think $30K is way to light for this a-hole given the amount of injury he caused. I hope the prosecutor is a bike rider and makes an example of this guy. I also hope that the biker gets a really good "Larry H Parker" type lawyer and sues the crap out of him. Heck if it were me, I would have a mind to tell the lawyer he can keep 90% of the settlement if he can bankrupt him.

I also think the AMA should revoke his med-license because he essentially violated the hipocratic oath....

drc

[ubermensch]

$30K is way too light. In practice, he only has to pay 10% of that to a bail-bondsperson in order to be released. In other words, $3000 out of his pocket and he's out walking right now.

In contrast, the people that are making threats against him would, if arrested, have his or her bail set at $50K without ever laying a finger on him.

[OTHRIDER]

Originally Posted by drclark

Do you think $30K is to much or too light?

The bail way too light. I sure hope the hospital and the medical association act quickly on his murderous actions.

[papisimo11]

two of my friends had a MAJOR incident with the DR. about 4 months ago on Mandeville as well. they both filed a police report and have been checking in with the police about every 2 weeks since it occured.
this idiot already has some strikes against him. maybe they'll come down hard on him due to the priors.
my buddies were pissed because the arresting officer didn't do any breathalizer tests etc... My friend thought he was a bit tipsy.
anyway good riddance to the dr.
i rode up mandeville yesterday and all the drivers were on their best behavior.
paz afuera

[fortytwo]

I think $30k is too low, but not for the same reasons.

The purpose of bail is not to punish, but to ensure the guy shows up in for his court appearance. Is $30k enough to keep him from running? If he sees the likelyhood of serious jail time and losing his medical license, he might decide to dissappear and start over somewhere else.

[art23rockpile]

Originally Posted by fortytwo

I think $30k is too low, but not for the same reasons.

The purpose of bail is not to punish, but to ensure the guy shows up in for his court appearance. Is $30k enough to keep him from running? If he sees the likelyhood of serious jail time and losing his medical license, he might decide to dissappear and start over somewhere else.

Bingo.
If you're able to put emotion aside, and look at this from a purely legal standpoint, the guy's accused of assault with a deadly weapon. As far as I know, there's no concrete evidence of attempted murder. He has a home and a medical practice (for now, though he'll probably lose these, as he should), so is not considered a flight risk. 30K does sound somewhat low... i'd have figured 50-100K.

[OTHRIDER]

From today's LA Times -

Conflict between bicyclists, motorists boils over in Brentwood



Two experienced riders are hurt on Mandeville Canyon Road in what police describe as a 'road-rage incident.'

L.A. councilman calls for a meeting on the issue.

By Martha Groves and Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
July 9, 2008

Bicyclists who crave a steady uphill climb flock to Mandeville Canyon Road and its 5-mile, straight-shot ascent with no traffic lights.

But the route's rising popularity has turned the narrow road into a zone of conflict for Brentwood residents and the hundreds of cyclists who, every weekend, brave its twists, turns and tree-root bumps.

The frustration boiled over on the Fourth of July. In what police describe as a "road-rage incident," two experienced racers on a holiday outing that attracted about 300 cyclists were riding down Mandeville Canyon when a motorist in an Infiniti sedan slammed on his brakes in front of them. Police said the resulting impact propelled one rider through the car's rear window and sent the other to the pavement.

Police arrested the driver, Christopher T. Thompson, 58, on suspicion of felony assault with a deadly weapon -- his automobile. Thompson, who lives on Mandeville Canyon Road and is an owner of a medical documentation company in Woodland Hills, was released on $30,000 bail.

Capt. Bill Eaton of the Los Angeles Police Department said the case could go to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office as early as today.

Peter Swarth, Thompson's attorney, denied that his client had done anything wrong and said the cyclists' account was inaccurate. "This isn't an incident of road rage," Swarth said. "It is a very unfortunate accident. Dr. Thompson hopes for the injured cyclists' recovery."

Cyclist Ron Peterson, 40, whose head crashed through the car window, suffered broken teeth and serious cuts on his face, including one that left his broken nose dangling.

The other cyclist, Christian Stoehr, 29, said he suffered a shoulder separation that would require surgery.

Photos showing a car's shattered window and what appears to be a blood-covered trunk and a cut-up Peterson on a gurney and in a UCLA Medical Center bed were quickly posted on Internet blogs, prompting outraged e-mails among members of Westside riding clubs.

Peterson and Stoehr said they were starting their descent toward Sunset Boulevard when a fellow cyclist crashed into another rider's bike and was injured. The two remained behind to help.

After paramedics arrived and loaded the cyclist into an ambulance, Peterson and Stoehr said they continued to descend, riding side by side at about 30 mph.

Peterson said he pulled in front of Stoehr after a driver behind them honked. The car passed them, missing their handlebars by less than a foot, Peterson said.

The driver "yelled out some profanity and 'Ride single file,' " said Peterson, who works as a cycling coach. Peterson, riding a $5,500 Specialized racing bike, screamed an expletive at the driver. At that point, the driver veered directly in front of the riders and "slammed on his brakes as hard as he could," Peterson said.

Peterson's head slammed through the window. Stoehr, meanwhile, said he tried to steer around the car but clipped it with his bag or a foot. "I ended up being catapulted over my own bike and landed in front of the car," he said.

According to Peterson, the driver emerged from the car and said he was a doctor. But "from that point on, he never offered any help," Peterson said.

Thompson's biography on the website of his company, Touch Medix, says he spent 29 years as an emergency department doctor. He earned his medical degree at the University of Oklahoma and has for years consulted on issues relating to medical documentation.

Wendy-Sue Rosen, president of the Upper Mandeville Canyon Assn., described Thompson as "a great guy who has been active in the community." His wife, Lynne, is on the association's board.

"People here are very, very angry at bicyclists and their disregard for the laws of the road," Rosen said, adding that residents had reported being spat upon by cyclists.

Charles Mostov, a lawyer who lives on Mandeville Canyon Road and is an avid cyclist, said the incident had prompted some much-needed conversation.

Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl, who represents the area, said he had called for a meeting within the next two weeks of residents, cyclists, traffic engineers and police to discuss the issues and to reinforce the fact that "cyclists have the right to travel safely and free of fear."

Cyclists urged members of their community not to use the incident as an excuse to act aggressively toward motorists.

"As more people take to the road because of gas prices and the economy," Mostov said, "maybe this is an opportunity for some outreach and for dialogue so that we can get along."

[Dan White]

Ron Peterson (the most seriously injured cyclist) was interviewed on AM 640 John & Ken program yesterday afternoon. I don't know if anyone taped the program but it was very interesting. Ron Peterson believes that the doctor was also involved in another road rage incident against cyclist earlier this year where he bumped some rider/s off the road.

[Cyco-pancho]

I'm sorry, call me a meat-head, or something....if it came to something like that, where a friend just got badly injured, I would have beat the f**K out of that a**h***. That amounts to the same thing as him (the doc) grabbing a bat and hitting your friend in the face. Sometimes you need to put a riding shoe to someones face, because sometimes there is no justice...just us.

[shudder]

So, in reading over all of the posts here, and all of the news stories folks have linked to, I am left wondering why this happened (not how -- that much is clearly evident), and I am left shaking my head in disbelief and wonder.

It appears from the reading I have done that the doctor graduated as his class prexy, and has practiced meds for in excess of 29 years. He also owns a medical software biz, etc. These are all upstanding, virtuous things, right?

When I was taken down a year ago it was by a fat, drunken Harley rider who saw a solo rider in spandex on Mulholland as an easy mark and just went for me. This doesn't lower the evil, it just sort of explains why he would try to kill me: he was wasted and I was an easy mark. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure that one out.

But this one just leaves me shaking my head...

So, the doc has apparently worked very hard and now owns what is probably a very nice home up a winding road on top of a hill (all conjecture, but all is alluded to in the stories I have read). M'ville has become more and more popular as a cyclist venue, so he and all his neighbors now have more cycle traffic up there to deal with. Living in an exclusive, posh neighboorhood never excuses anyone from the world changing around them, but I am sure that no one is real happy that their quiet niehborhood has many more two-wheeled folks to deal with, but Times Change, right?

I am brought full circle back to my why question: Was it just the exchange of pleasantries between this former class president and the cyclists that pushed him over the edge? That hardly seems likely, though all evidence we've read point exactly to that.

If that is the case in all its simplicity, then I am just astounded.

I suppose all will out when this man is arraigned on August 1. I can't wait to hear more about this. He certainly has a LOT going against him at this point, and that is as it should be.

I hope all of the cyclists injured that day recover well and quickly (including the fellow they were helping up top).

shud