Canyon News: L.A. Man Booked For Running Down Bicyclist
Posted by Daniel Antolin on Aug 27, 2011
SANTA MONICA—On Friday, August 26, the Santa Monica Police Department related details about the arrest of a Los Angeles man who is suspected of running down a bicyclist with his vehicle during the late evening of August 25.
On that date, police arrested 41-year-old Jeffrey Ray Adams on the 2600 block of Barnard Way near the entrance to a parking lot at 6:40 p.m., booking details indicate. Police responded to the scene between 6:24 p.m. and 6:27 p.m., an SMPD press release and call log for that date indicate.
After Adams’s arrest, he was booked at 8:46 p.m. at the Santa Monica Jail for a felony assault with a deadly weapon charge, but was later released after posting $30,000 bail at 11:32 p.m.
SMPD Sergeant Robert Almada told Canyon News that Adams is scheduled to appear in court on September 26 and that the case has been referred to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Almada said that the SMPD is still in the process of conducting interviews for this ongoing investigation and is aware of videos posted online that show what happened after the incident.
During the initial investigation, detectives deduced that Adams intentionally struck the 46-year-old victim with the side of his vehicle, causing him to fall off his bicycle and sustain injury. They had earlier been involved in an argument while traveling south on Barnard Way.
The victim told paramedics that he was having pain in his lower back and leg. He said he flipped over the hood of the vehicle, landed on his hands and legs, then rolled over to the adjacent sidewalk.
Paramedics transported the victim to a local hospital for treatment. He was later released and is resting at home. Two YouTube videos shot after the incident show that they arrived about seven minutes after a bystander, who identified himself as Gary Benson, called police.
LINK: Youtube video of the scene after the alleged assault
“If you’re going to commentate, we’re going to turn it off. We’re trying to treat him here. Don’t disrupt the scene here,” the video shows a paramedic telling Adams, who is filming the area with his camera phone. Adams says twice that they are not going to take away his phone.
In the videos, Adams later tells an officer who responded to the scene that the victim was screaming obscenities at him while they were sharing the street together, then swerved in front of him. At the time, Adams said he was slowing down to five miles an hour while approaching a stop sign. The victim says Adams intentionally cut right into him with his vehicle at a speed of 25 miles per hour.
The You Tube videos show Adams’s gray vehicle of an indefinite make in the background. The vehicle is facing against traffic on the adjacent lane and is parked inside of a double-lined center barrier. A blonde woman is visibly sitting in the passenger seat. And the victim’s bicycle is lying on the floor next to the vehicle.
The video also captures what happened before police and paramedics arrived.
“Yeah, and this guy said, ‘what are you gonna do, jump into this too?’ Yeah, he came right after me too, and he’s about ready to do it again right now,” Benson tells police on the phone as Adams comes toward him. Adams tells Benson, “I’ll beat your a**!”
Adams then tells the injured bicyclist, who is sitting on the adjacent sidewalk, “Don’t you come after me ever again. You’re lucky you’re alive right now.”
While this is going on, Adams also gets into a verbal altercation with a number of bystanders, including Benson, who dispute that what happened is his fault. He asks if one of the bystanders is on crack.
Benson and another man act as intermediaries to prevent violence from ensuing. The other man tries unsuccessfully to coax Adams from making matters worse for himself.
Adams says the following throughout the video to these bystanders, “You should just bring it on anytime. Why don’t we make it a legal sanction? Why don’t you and I just go at it? Why don’t we just make it a legal thing? We don’t have to make it illegal. Let’s go in the ring.”
“And you ain’t got nothing man. Go ahead and bring it on. I will hurt all three of you. I can defend myself against you fata**,” Adams says.
“I’ll do it two at a night. You first, if you like, then you. Let’s do it in ring. Let’s do it somewhere real if you want to go for it. Anytime you’re ready. Why don’t you give me you’re name and all that? After we get through with all this crap, we’ll do it,” Adams says to Benson after he tells Adams he’ll beat him up if he gets closer to the victim and him.
At one point, Adams laughs because he characterizes the victim’s agony and Benson’s efforts to help as something akin to a sideshow meant to make it look as though he was at fault. He calls them two poodles.
The victim says to Benson, “I tell you, I’ve been riding down here for 25 years. I’ve neer seen anyone do something like this. This guy’s insane.”
