Former emergency-room physician Christopher Thompson claimed he was stopping to photograph obnoxious bicyclists for identification purposes when he stopped his car, but the jury didn't buy it.
Instead, they found the bicyclists' version of the story more credible: after honking at the cyclists and whizzing dangerously close as they pulled into single-file to permit him to pass, he slammed on his brakes in front of them to punish them for flipping him off. When they had smashed face-first into the physician's red Infiniti, breaking teeth and bones and cutting their faces, Thompson's 9-1-1 call recorded his explanation that the cyclists weren't badly hurt but would fake injury, just before he yelled at them to get their bikes out of the road.
Thompson got five years from an L.A. judge in the felony assault of two cyclists.
In 2005 there were over 6.4 million auto collisions, which caused 2.9 million injuries, nearly 43,000 deaths, and approximately $230 Billion in economic loss. While it's easier to get folks riled up over things like airline safety and firearm regulation – because they're sexy and make exciting news, so folks hear about it – the nonstop rain of auto collisions has receded into the background and seems largely ignored.
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