Road Rage Against Cyclists

(Originally published in the June 3 to 9, 2012 issue of the Baguio Chronicle ---

a weekly newspaper based in Baguio City, Philippines ---

by Sly L. Quintos, Associate Editor.)

MY random on-line reading around dawn last Friday brought me to a site with a screaming headline: Doctor gets 5 years for road rage against cyclists.

A former emergency room doctor who deliberately hit his brakes so that two bicyclists rammed into his car in a road rage incident was sentenced in 2010 by a Los Angeles court in a case that sparked international interest among cyclists, it said in chilling details.

One of the victims smashed through the back window, nearly severed his nose and shattered several teeth. The other crashed to the pavement, separating his shoulder.

Christopher Thomas Thompson, 60, was sentenced to five years in state prison and had been jailed since his conviction on charges of assault with a deadly weapon, battery with serious bodily injury, reckless driving and mayhem.

The trial, which lasted three weeks and captivated the cycling community, revealed a particularly virulent form of road rage.

Thompson however claimed that he was merely trying to take a photograph of the cyclists as an evidence of the way cyclists flout the law. A Los Angeles Police Department traffic investigator who arrived on the scene shortly after the incident testified that Thompson told him he “stopped in front to teach them a lesson”.

At trial, Thompson said that he and other local residents were angry because some bicyclists were ignoring stop signs or riding abreast, impeding cars on a narrow road.

Thompson said several cyclists who were riding side by side had sworn at him and made a rude gesture after he told them to ride single file. The physician said he didn't intend to hurt anyone and only stopped to photograph the riders.

The case prompted a deluge of letters and e-mails from cyclists around the world to support Thompson while messages, including some from bicyclists and doctors as far away as China, urged a tough sentence.

“Here in the U.K., the cycling community has a saying that if you want to harm or kill someone, a motor vehicle is the weapon of choice,” wrote Tony Raven, of Cambridge, England.

The letters were submitted to the court by the prosecutor.

“It is time that motorists learn that they must share the road with people on bicycles and that the courts will view assaults on cyclists by motorists as seriously as other assaults with deadly weapons,” Deputy District Attorney Mary Hanlon Stone wrote in court papers.

Prosecutors had sought an eight-year term while Thompson’s attorney argued for probation.

Judge Scott T. Millington said he did not take into account the letters and e-mails from bicyclists when considering the sentence. However, the judge said he believed Thompson had not shown remorse during the case.

Two other cyclists testified that in March 2008, a motorist they believed to be Thompson made a similar maneuver, speeding ahead then slamming on his brakes. One of these cyclists told the court that the driver tried to hit them again and then sped off, noting that the car was an Infiniti sedan and the license plates matched those of Thompson's car.

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I get off my bike and briefly pause this Sunday in remembrance of my father who passed away 34 years ago today, June 3.

I would like also to greet my second daughter, Pryce, a happy 21st birthday on June 8. I love you, anak!

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Until then and have a safe ride all the time. Put on that cycling helmet each time you get on your bike. Remember: YOU CAN BEAT THE EGG WITHOUT BREAKING THE SHELL.*