As Luke Fetzer and his friend were cycling along Pacific Coast Highway in Newport Beach earlier this month, they encountered two aggressive vehicles, one of which followed so close behind Fetzer’s friend that the biker was forced out of the designated bike lane.
The road rage encounter, which Fetzer detailed in an Instagram video and said included slurs shouted at them, has now led to one arrest, but Newport Beach police say the investigation is ongoing.
Officers arrested Samir Sweiss of Corona in the March 21 incident, part of which Fetzer captured on video. The footage, which shows a blue BMW tailgating a cyclist in the bike lane, forcing the cyclist to hop the curb onto the sidewalk, has since gone viral on Fetzer’s Instagram page. Fetzer didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry from The Times. The video also shows a passenger in the blue BMW throwing a water bottle out the window in the direction of the cyclists.
Sweiss was booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and obstructing arrest, according to a Newport Beach Police Department update on the incident. It’s unclear whether other arrests may be made, but police said they seized a blue BMW as part of the investigation.
Newport Beach police said they seized a blue BMW as part of an investigation into a March 21 road rage incident.
(Newport Beach Police Department)
In an Instagram video explaining the encounter, Fetzer says that there were two cars harassing him and his friend, despite their position in the bike lane and following the rules of the road. Fetzer said that, early on in the incident, he sprayed water at one of the cars in frustration but didn’t expect the reaction he got.
Fetzer said the cars swerved at them, honked and put the cyclists’ lives in danger. Later, Fetzer said, occupants of both cars got out and tried to block the bikers, threatening to hurt them.
“He’s like inches away from my rear wheel,” Ben Byra, Fetzer’s friend and fellow cyclist, told KTLA. “A couple lights down they all got out of their cars.”
“All I want to do is share bicycle safety awareness,” Fetzer said.