Christopher Thompson, the former emergency room physician who swerved his Infiniti in front of two cyclists and then slammed on the brakes last year, was sentenced to five years in prison in Los Angeles for “mayhem, assault with a deadly weapon”. Thompson claimed he was stopping his car to take a picture, but the result was a separated shoulder for one cyclist and an almost-severed nose that took 90 stitches to reattach for the other.

Jurors didn’t buy his story, convicting him in November, and Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Scott T. Millington didn’t believe his stated remorse, gaveling down five years yesterday. At the scene of the incident, Thompson had told a police office that he intended to teach the cyclists a lesson. He was also overheard on a 911 call ordering one of the injured cyclists to get his bike out of the road.

There’s already been plenty of editorializing and coverage on this, so there seems little need to pile on, except to add a couple of points:

1. Millington took the unusual step of calling on local agencies to recognize the vehicle-bike conflicts that occur every day. “Government must become aware of the dangerous conditions existing on our city streets and the threat of injury to cyclists,” he said. Until governments commit to embracing bicycles as legitimate modes of transportation and educating drivers on them, such conflicts stand little chance of diminishing. The odds of Copenhagen happening here are zero.

2. Cyclists have a responsibility to report aggressive drivers. Thompson was convicted in part because he had a record of threatening cyclists–if those earlier cyclists had not reported his behavior to police, he might have gotten off on the serious charges that came later. If you’re threatened, brushbacked, or have an incident, you should get the license number of the vehicle and report it.

3. Cyclists must behave responsibly and stay on the moral high ground. The Thompson incident began when the driver yelled at the cyclists to ride single file. One of them shouted an obscenity and gave him the finger. Seconds later, Thompson swerved and hit the brakes. It seems safe to presume he was provoked at least in part by the cyclist’s action.

A year or so ago, I was nearly hit by a dump truck towing a trailer. The truck gave me decent space, but the trailer drifted within a couple of feet. I caught up to the driver at a red light. He looked down from his window, expecting a confrontation, but I actually kept a cool head and explained what it was like–how vulnerable I was on the bike, how big the truck, how what seemed like healthy space to the driver was terrifying for a cyclist. He actually thanked me when we parted.

Cycling lawyer Bob Mionske writes extensively about the need to be an ambassador for the sport in these situations and addresses the difficulty of doing so in heated exchanges in a long piece on Bicycling magazine’s blog last July. It’s worth reading. There’s some great advice in it, most of which boils down to: One, keep your head–the driver is typically favored by police in such interactions, so you be sure you don’t escalate the situation. Two, record information on brushbacks and aggressive behavior and call police immediately–they might be able to catch the driver. Three, defend yourself if necessary, but only at the level you’re being assaulted. Let’s hope it never gets to “three”.

Tagged as: cycling