Kansas woman convicted of attacking cyclists

A Kansas woman was convicted Wednesday of attacking two cyclists with her motor vehicle, causing them to crash.

The woman became enraged because the cyclists were riding two abreast on a two-lane highway. Kansas State law allows such two-abreast riding.

The woman passed the cyclists, stopped and shouted at them, and followed them closely for some distance (they had passed her vehicle while it was stopped). Finally the woman swerved around the cyclists, turned abruptly in front of them, and in doing so, clipped the wheel of one cyclist, causing that cyclist to fall to the pavement and the other, maneuvering to avoid colliding with the other bicycle and the automobile, to crash into the ditch.

The cyclists, who were riding in the Bike Across Kansas tour, were not seriously injured.

The woman was convicted of aggravated assault and reckless battery; she faces sentencing on March 31st. The assault is "aggravated" because it involves the use of a deadly weapon--in this case, the woman's automobile.

Under Kansas sentencing guidelines, the sentence for the woman's conviction on aggravated assault (the more serious of the two charges) is likely to be 11 to 34 months probation.

Under Kansas law, drivers who commit a felony involving the use of a vehicle have their drivers licenses revoked, or placed under court restriction for up to a year.

Read about the incident and the charges in an Oct 2002 Salina Journal article. The conviction is covered in in today's Salina Journal and an Associated Press story on the KansasCityChannel.com.