A former emergency room doctor has been sentenced to five years in prison.
Christopher Thomas Thompson was convicted last November of assault with a deadly weapon, battery and reckless driving for deliberately hitting his brakes in front of two bicyclists on a narrow street in Brentwood, causing them to crash into his car.
Cyclists Christian Stoehr and Ron Peterson suffered serious injuries in the July, 2008, collision.
The prosecution alleged Thompson -- the owner of a medical documentation company in Woodland Hills -- deliberately hit the brakes of his Infiniti sedan in front of two bicyclists in the 3400 block of Mandeville Canyon Road on July 4, 2008.
One of the bicyclists, Ronald Peterson, crashed through the car's rear window and suffered a broken nose, broken teeth and facial cuts, and the other cyclist, Christian Stoehr, suffered a separated shoulder after crashing to the pavement, authorities said shortly after the crash.
Thompson was on his way to Beverly Hospital in Montebello at the time, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Jurors deliberated about three hours before finding Thompson guilty of two counts each of assault with a deadly weapon and battery with serious bodily injury and one count each of reckless driving causing specified injury, reckless driving and mayhem.
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Jurors found that both victims suffered great bodily injury involving the assault charges -- with the deadly weapon being Thompson's car.
The two cyclists contended that the vehicle pulled in front of them and hit the brakes hard, while Thompson countered that he had not slammed on the car's brakes, according to The Times.
The crash led to calls for changes on Mandeville Canyon Road to make it easier for bicyclists and motorcyclists to share the route.
