Suspect Arrested for Assault after US Champion Targeted in Shocking California Road Rage Case

A suspect has been arrested on charges of “assault with a deadly weapon” after a driver threatened to kill Luke Fetzer and his friend in an explosive confrontation.

Footage of the brutal road rage clash went viral last week after Fetzer posted it on social media.

The reel shows Fetzer – the reigning U.S. U23 crit champ – and his friend being tailed and harassed by a driver as they rode through Newport Beach, California.

The video rapidly gained more than 10 million views and lit up debate in the local community. The incident put ongoing concerns for rider safety into the spotlight and was reported by multiple major news outlets.

Several days after the video blew up the internet, the Newport Beach Police Department confirmed last week it had arrested the driver and seized a vehicle.

It seems authorities are using the social media footage as evidence in the case.

Road rage goes viral

The arrest could lead to a quick conclusion to what was a shocking incident.

Video shot by Fetzer shows a blue BMW being driven into the bike lane and onto the tail of his friend as they pedaled through a Saturday ride. When the cyclist hops onto the pavement, the driver draws alongside and starts a heated discussion.

The car then zooms past Fetzer and tosses a water bottle in his direction.

The video documents what Fetzer claims was the second installment of a wider altercation.

The 20-year-old later posted a second video overlaid with a map to explain how tensions first boiled over.

“We’re riding single file and move right towards the bike lane. At this intersection, the driver honks and swerves at us, and the driver rolls down his window, and yells slurs at us,” Fetzer said, referring to the reel.

“I was angry, adrenaline was pumping. These guys had tried to kill us by swerving a car into us,” Fetzer continued. “In the heat of the moment, I squirted water onto his car while he was stopped at the red light.”

Fetzer goes on to explain things boiled further outside a branch of Shake Shack.

“They [the driver and companions] blocked us, told us they were going to try to kill us, and tried tackling us. They didn’t only do it to us. Two other cyclists who weren’t involved with us were also put in harm’s way by these guys,” he said.

And that’s not the end of this jaw-dropping case.

Fetzer told the Orange County Register that the driver later contacted him via social media to challenge him to a “consensual full MMA sparring session” to “settle this like men.”

‘We’ve seen a real rise in intentional aggression toward cyclists’

The incident struck a nerve in the California cycling community.

Multiple bloggers and social media creators commented on the ongoing tensions between riders and drivers, and what can be done to help the two better share the road.

Fetzer’s attorney Steve Rosen said the clash was part of an ugly, growing trend.

“What’s scary to us is that we’ve seen a real rise in intentional aggression toward cyclists,” Rosen told KTLA News. “The unfortunate thing here is that these cyclists were actually where they were supposed to be.”

Newport Beach Police Department stated Friday no further information will be released while the investigation is ongoing.