With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong, become a monthly member or increase your support today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
5 Years of Prison for 'Road Rage' Doctor Who Injured Cyclists
Justice is served. "Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Scott T. Millington called the case a 'wake-up call' to motorists and cyclists and urged local government to provide riders with more bike lanes," the LA Times reported. "He said he believed that [Dr. Christopher] Thompson had shown a lack of remorse during the case and that the victims were particularly vulnerable while riding their bicycles." Thompson purposely slammed on his brakes while driving on Mandeville Canyon Road in Brentwood on the Fourth of July in 2008. Two cyclists were injured, one of them went through the back window of his car. Damien Newton at Streetsblog LA says the sentence is only partially served. "This case needs to be a wake up call to a city who's attitude towards cyclist safety is cavalier at best," he wrote.