A Redmond man faces first-degree malicious mischief charges after a road rage incident last October, when he allegedly threw his bicycle at a car after the driver honked at him.
The alleged combatants, bicyclist Chad Olson, 42, and driver Ben D. Han, 46, each gave Redmond police different accounts of the Oct. 16 confrontation, according to charging papers filed last Friday in King County Superior Court.
Olson, whose arraignment is set for Feb. 22 at the King County Courthouse, caused nearly $5,700 worth of damages, according to charging papers. Olson has no prior criminal history and faces up 90 days in jail if he’s convicted, according to Ian Goodhew, spokesperson for the King County Prosecutor’s Office.
Han told police he was driving his Volvo with his wife eastbound on Old Redmond Road, approaching 140th Avenue Northeast when he honked his horn at a bicyclist who was weaving between the bike lane and the roadway, according to the charging papers. Han told police he honked because he was “cut off” by the bicyclist, who was identified by police as Olson.
That’s when things escalated, according to the charging papers.
Han said Olson “chased” him down to the next intersection at Old Redmond Road and 148th Avenue Northeast. When Olson caught up to Han’s car, he spit on the driver’s side window and then hit the driver’s side mirror with his hand, the documents say.
At the next stoplight, Olson pulled ahead of the car, jumped off his bike, “darted up with the bike in his hands” and threw the bike against the passenger side of the car, according to charging papers.
Both Han and his wife, Susan, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, described the same incident, the papers say.
Ben Han called police after the incident and Olson left on his bike, but later showed up at the Redmond Police Department to report a road rage incident, charges said. He told police that he was hit by Ben’s car while he was “attempting to avoid being hit by the vehicle,” charges said. He went on to say that hit the driver’s side mirror out of anger and self-defense.
Investigators concluded that the passenger side damage was caused by Olson picking up his bike and throwing it at the car and not by an on-road collision as Olson described, charges said.
