A 57-year-old Tucson man was arrested for felony aggravated assault after deliberately sideswiping a bicyclist who was leading more than a dozen others on a training ride, a Tucson police official said.
Investigators found the suspect, Rodney Kinkade, after viewing footage of the vehicle taken by a film crew accompanying the team on its ride Friday through Tucson’s southeast side, Sgt. Chris Widmer, spokesman for the Tucson Police Department, said.
The incident occurred before noon Friday as 15 to 20 bicyclists were riding along East Valencia Road near East Old Vail Road. The group was eastbound on Valencia when a man driving a 1999 Oldsmobile Aurora began to pass them. The driver slowed near the front of the pack and screamed obscenities at the bicyclists, Widmer said.
“As the vehicle reached the front of the pack it swerved to the right and sideswiped the lead bicyclist, knocking him to the ground and causing other bicyclists to fall as well,” Widmer said.
“The witnesses were mostly other bicyclists following in the pack. All stated to the police that the suspect intentionally struck the two bicyclists.”
Two bicyclists were treated at the scene for injuries, he said.
Detectives with the aggravated assault unit used a photo of the car provided by the bicycle team’s videographer to track the vehicle to the suspect’s home. The car was impounded and Kinkade was arrested and booked into the Pima County jail, Widmer said.
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