Motorist accused of backing into cyclists is indicted

If convicted, driver faces up to five years in prison

A Santa Fe County grand jury recently indicted a Moriarty man accused of backing into a group of cyclists — critically injuring one of them — on felony charges including great bodily injury by vehicle.

If convicted on all counts, Jacob D. Brown, 40, could face almost five years in prison.

According to a Santa Fe County Sheriff ’s Office report, Brown and the cyclists — more than a dozen who belong to a group called Santa Fe Seniors on Bikes — gave contradictory accounts of what happened that morning in March.

One of three injured cyclists injured told deputies he and the riders had been traveling south on N.M. 41 near Galisteo around 11:30 a.m. March 1 when Brown passed them at a high rate of speed, honking his horn.

Once Brown passed, a cyclist said, he stopped his white Honda in the right lane and then accelerated in reverse into the group, causing one rider to collide with the car and several others to lose control and fall off their bikes.

Brown drove off, according to the report, but was quickly apprehended by deputies and “escorted” back to the scene, where he told deputies the cyclists had been riding in the middle of the road and wouldn’t let him pass.

As soon as he saw a chance to pass the cyclists, Brown said, he did.

But when he looked into his rearview mirror, he saw several of them “flipping him off ” behind him, and he “lost his temper and slammed on the brakes and reversed toward the bicyclists.”

He stopped short of hitting the cyclists, Brown said, but one rider hit the back of his car, and in his rearview mirror he “observed several bicyclists falling to the ground.”

The cyclists were yelling profanities, Brown told deputies, and one approached his door and appeared ready to fight, so he drove off.

Deputies initially issued Brown a traffic violation for “stopping, standing or parking” in the roadway, but cyclists — those involved in the incident as well as others in the area — launched an email campaign urging District Attorney Marco Serna to file more serious charges against him.

A grand jury on Friday indicted Brown on felony charges of great bodily injury by vehicle and leaving the scene of an accident involving great bodily harm — as well as a misdemeanor charge of reckless driving.

“It’s about time,” said Douglas Harrel, the rider who suffered the most serious injuries.

“He got to go home [after the incident]. I got to go to the hospital for half a month, and I’ve had to learn to walk again.

“It’s affected my entire life,” Harrel added, “and he got to enjoy all of the springtime and Fourth of July, all the holidays like nothing had ever happened. For me, my life changed and will

never go back. Because of this, I’m in perpetual pain.”

Harrel, 63, said he suffered 12 broken ribs, two collapsed lungs, a broken pelvis and a broken cheek bone and had a shoulder torn out of its socket.

“I was in critical care for several days while they evaluated whether I was going to survive,” said Harrel, who expected to be undergoing shoulder surgery Wednesday.

Two other cyclists suffered injuries, Harrel said — including a man who broke both wrists — but the district attorney’s charging documents only detail Harrel’s as the basis for the charges against Brown.

Brown — who did not respond to a message seeking comment — is scheduled to be arraigned on the charges July 30 in District Court.