From the LA Times, December 12.

Christopher Thompson to be tried in confrontations with cyclists
Physician is accused of pulling in front of bicycles, then stopping
suddenly. Three sustained injuries.
By Joanna Lin

December 12, 2008

After slamming on his car brakes in front of two cyclists riding down a
narrow stretch of
Mandeville Canyon Road and injuring them, Christopher Thomas Thompson
gave police the impression that the incident this summer was no
accident.

Thompson complained that cyclists frequently traveled down the
residential street in Brentwood and that he was "tired of them," Los
Angeles Police Officer Robert Rodriguez said.

After testimony from Rodriguez and two cyclists who were alleged to
have been involved in separate confrontations
with the doctor, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Amy. D. Hogue
ordered that Thompson stand trial. He faces one felony count of
reckless driving causing injury and two felony counts of battery with
serious injury in the July 4
incident. He also faces one count of misdemeanor reckless driving
causing injury in an incident with another cyclist on the same road in
March.

Thompson, his brown hair graying and wearing a dark pinstripe suit, did
not speak during
the hearing at the airport branch courtroom, which several cyclists
attended.

The incidents involving Thompson have outraged cyclists and underscored
tension between them
and motorists on the Brentwood
road. In both cases, prosecutor Mary
Stone alleged that Thompson slammed on the brakes of his car in front
of two cyclists riding down the road. In July, the impact flung one
cyclist through the car's rear window and the other to the pavement.

Ron Peterson, 40, broke his front teeth and nose; cuts left scars on
his chin, above
his upper lip and across the bridge of his nose. The other cyclist,
Christian
Stoehr, 29, had a separated shoulder that led to surgery, the insertion
of metal
implants and chronic arthritis and soreness, his doctor told police.


Peterson testified Thursday that he and Stoehr were riding side by side
toward Sunset Boulevard about 30 mph. After a car honked behind them,
Peterson said, he pulled in front of Stoehr. The car passed them,
missing his handlebars
by less than a foot, he said.

Peterson said Thompson yelled for the pair to "ride single-file."
Peterson said he screamed an expletive at Thompson, who
then swerved in front of the cyclists and "slammed on the brakes" to a
complete stop.

In a split second, Peterson said, he crashed through the car window and
was "bleeding profusely, laying on the trunk."

Four months earlier, another cyclist got into a scuffle with Thompson,
the prosecutor alleged.


Patrick Watson testified that he and a friend were cycling down
Mandeville Canyon
Road in March when they heard a fast-approaching car behind them.
Watson=2
0said he moved in front of his friend to get out of the way.

"The car was so close to me I had to jump the curb. I thought it was
going to hit me."

Watson said he veered back onto the road to avoid a drain, and then the
car's driver "slammed on his brakes . . . directly in front" of him and
his friend. Both cyclists avoided running into the car.


Watson said his friend hit the car with his fist and yelled for the
driver to get out. The car instead "came right at me," Watson said.
Watson said he took down the car's license plate number before the
driver, whom he identified in court as Thompson, took off. He sent an
e-mail to his cycling group, cautioning members to beware of the
driver.

Peter Swarth, Thompson's attorney, said that the incidents were an
"unfortunate accident" and not a case of "road rage," as some have
suggested.

"There is a whole other side to the story that will be brought out in
trial," he said. "There is
much, much more, and it will be developed in court."

Thompson remained free on bail and is scheduled to be arraigned Jan.
15. If convicted on all
counts, he faces four to five years in state prison, authorities said.