Dr. Christopher Thomas Thompson, the former emergency room physician who pulled in front of two bicyclists doing a 30-mph descent and slammed on his brakes, was found guilty of assault with deadly weapon this week, following a week-long trial.
A jury returned the verdict Monday, convicting Thompson of six felonies and one misdemeanor, Velonews reported.
Thompson’s attorney sought to keep the doctor out on bail until his Dec. 3 sentencing. Prosecutor Mary Stone argued against it, saying Thompson was a flight risk. “In terms of public safety, there isn’t a cyclist in Los Angeles who would be comfortable if he were out on the streets,” she added.
During the trial, Stone showed that Thompson had stopped his car abruptly once before in front of two cyclists going down hill. Those cyclists narrowly avoided colliding with his car. Another cyclist testified that a car matching Thompson’s had also stopped in front of him, but he was going slowly uphill and was able to avoid a collision.
In the incident that sparked the charges, on July 4, 2008, one cyclist clipped the back of Thompson’s Infinity sedan and flew off his bike into the oncoming lane. The second cyclist went into Thompson’s rear window. His nose was nearly severed from his face.
Thompson told an investigating police officer that he wanted to teach the cyclists a lesson.
