Gory Road Rage in LA from a Repeat Offender
Some asshole in a fire-up red Infiniti who has previously been investigated for locking up his brakes in front of some cyclists is looking at a couple felony reckless driving charges. Christopher Thomas Thompson of L.A. hit his brakes at the bottom of a hill directly in front of two bikers after exchanging unpleasantries. The LAPD says it bears “strong similarities” to a separate incident a year prior where he allegedly ran two bikers off the road. One of the bikers went to the pavement, but the other put his head through the rear window of Thompson’s vehicle before getting hauled away in an ambulance. He faces 7 years in prison if convicted, but Thompson is a physician with some legal help so don’t get your hopes too high for seeing him behind bars.
By Rocky Thompson- rockythompson
This entry was posted on MONDAY, JULY 14, 2008 - 8:03 P.M. and is filed under Story, Cycling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
July 14th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
There’s something about Los Angeles that makes our people as territorial as wolves. From the moment that the highways were constructed the car became a heavy part of the Angelinos life. The car is an extension of the home, so I think that the surroundings of the car can be seen as the yard surrounding the home. Therefore merely entering into an occupied lane can be seen by some as encroachment onto property. It’s safer if you’re in a car; car vs. car you both lose. Clearly car vs. bike; car wins.
I read up on this incident because I was surprised that nothing was mentioned on local news. This happened on a canyon route that I drive and hike on very frequently as my best friend lives at the very end of the road. It’s very popular with cyclists because it’s not too crowded and is not too steep of a hill but still over 10 miles round trip. But this is a road where drivers will go 50mph with their eyes closed, someone in a rush can hit 75 and I’ve seen speeds over 100mph. With 2 narrow lanes and shoulders about 4ft wide it’s not a safe road. It is also never patrolled; I think because many of the speeders living in the area are powerful people (Governator comes to mind). In this incident after being honked at and passed by the speeding car a biker in the group yelled at the driver, which caused the man to go (attempted) homicidal. Road rage is no secret in LA, the biker should have kept his mouth shut and he may have avoided any incident. Ultimately of course it’s all on the driver for trying to kill people, but it appears that there was an opportunity to avoid the situation. I always let angry drivers get their way because I don’t want to get shot. Drivers are angry and confrontational people, with a protective advantage of the car I would not want to leave anything to chance.
They need to make these incidents a big deal. There is a lot of democratic political rambling about biking over driving, and Los Angeles is a democratic enclave, so the politicians have a responsibility to protect the cyclists. They have an entire PSA campaign about fastening seat-belts, but never anything about sharing the road with the increasing number of cyclists.
July 15th, 2008 at 11:36 am
4 foot wide shoulders? I would be so grateful if my mountain road rides had a shoulder wider than the white line. I guess people in Colorado are more reasonable with sharing the road too. I will say, that I strongly dislike bikers who feel like they can ride 2 or 3 wide when that clearly impedes traffic. I find that on the Poudre Canyon (Northern Colorado), most bikers are aware of traffic conditions and will pull over to let a line of cars pass if need be, and most cars (watch out for weekend warriors) will be completely cosiderate of bikers… lots of waves exchanged etc.
I guess my point is at times both bikers and car drivers can do a good job of pissing me off, which is why it’s obviously both groups responsibilites to work together and be considerate towards each other. Most of the time everything is perfectly fine, and sometimes there’s just miscommunications, but I see it all the time: cars and bikes being territorial about the road. It’s retarded. And I swear to God if I ever saw a car slam it’s breaks on a hill to hit bikers behind I would give the driver a really warm hug.
July 15th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Rocky, why is your brother such a dick?
July 16th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
that is so screwed up. maxima eh, ? nice doc. hope you like jail ass-face.