LOS ANGELES (AP/KNX 1070 NEWSRADIO) -- A driver has been convicted of felony assault with a deadly weapon for swerving his car in front of two cyclists on a Brentwood road, causing them to crash into the back of his car.
Christopher Thompson of Los Angeles, a 60-year-old emergency room physician, was also convicted Monday of battery causing serious injury, reckless driving and mayhem for the July 2008 incident.
Police say Thompson argued with the bikers on a narrow road before he slammed on the brakes in his red Infinity
sedan.
A police officer who testified siad Thompson told him soon after the accident that the cyclists made vulgar gestures towards him, so he slammed on his brakes "to teach them a lesson."
Thompson testified that he and other residents of the Brentwood area were upset at unsafe cycling by some riders along a five-mile residential street that has become a popular route for cyclists. He also testified that he had never meant to have hurt the cyclists.
One of the bicyclists dislocated his shoulder. The other broke his teeth and still has scars on his face.
Thompson was immediately remanded into custody because the judge felt he was a flight risk.
He faces 10 years in state prison.
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