Law enforcement has arrested a BMW driver captured on video allegedly causing a road rage incident while throwing items at a professional cyclist.
Samir Sweiss from the city of Corona in Riverside County was arrested March 26 by Newport Beach police, which posted on social media that it executed a search warrant following an investigation into the clash.
Sweiss was charged with assault with a deadly weapon and obstruction or delay of the arrest. “The investigation is still ongoing, and no further information will be released at this time,” the police department said Friday.
The incident happened March 21 at 11 a.m., according to police. Video shows a blue BMW sedan in a bike lane trailing closely behind a cyclist, who at one point jumps a curb to avoid the incoming vehicle.
As the vehicle passes the cyclist, a passenger appears to throw a water bottle at the cyclist in the video.
Luke Fetzer, the professional cyclist, said on social media that before the viral video moment, the driver swerved at him at an intersection, then shouted slurs at him before the next traffic light toward Pacific Coast Highway.
“I was angry, adrenaline was pumping. These guys had just tried to kill us by swerving their cars at us,” Fetzer said. He then acknowledged that at the traffic light, he grabbed his water bottle and “in the heat of the moment” squirted on the car.
Then, the video incident happened, and Fetzer said he began “filming for my own safety.”
Video captured the moment the BMW driver followed dangerously close behind the cyclist.
Professional cyclist Luke Fetzer explained the road rage situation in a social media post.
Fetzer said he was enjoying a ride home when a BMW driver threw items out of the car at him and a fellow cyclist.
Police conducted a search warrant in Corona and arrested Samir Weiss on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.
Then things get worse, according to Fetzer. A few miles down the road at a Shake Shack, four individuals got out of their cars and blocked the cyclists.
“They told us they were going to kill us and tried tackling us,” said Fetzer, who added two other cyclists not involved in the incident stepped in.
Police were called, and when they arrived on the scene, a cyclist needed medical attention for his injuries and was transported to a hospital, NBC Los Angeles reported.
Bodycam video of the arrest showed a handcuffed man with frizzy hair and a green T-shirt being led to a vehicle. Police said upon the BMW driver’s arrest, they took the blue sedan in as evidence.
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