CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / LOS ANGELES
A Brentwood physician who allegedly injured two cyclists last summer by slamming on his car brakes in front of them on Mandeville Canyon Road pleaded not guilty Thursday.
Christopher Thomas Thompson is charged with one felony count of reckless driving causing injury and two felony counts of battery with serious injury. Prosecutor Mary Stone said he also faces two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, his vehicle, and one count of mayhem. Thompson is also charged with one count of misdemeanor reckless driving causing injury in an incident with another cyclist on the same road last March.
Thompson and his attorney are expected to move to dismiss the case next month; a trial has been set for March 6.
According to authorities, one cyclist was flung through the car’s rear window and the other to the pavement in the July 4 incident. Thompson, 59, allegedly told police that he stopped his car in front of the cyclists to “teach them a lesson.†The physician complained that cyclists frequently traveled the residential street in Brentwood and that he was “tired of them,†LAPD Officer Robert Rodriguez testified during a preliminary hearing last month.
-- Joanna Lin
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