San Francisco bicyclist held in attack on car

San Francisco police have arrested a man who they say blocked a motorist with his bicycle and bashed her car with a U-lock as she tried to escape.

Officers on bike patrol spotted Ian Hespelt on Saturday and believed the mustachioed 39-year-old and his bicycle matched the description of the suspect.

Video of the Aug. 28 incident showed several bicyclists — who police think were part of a Critical Mass “splinter group” — surrounding a car, shouting at the driver and hitting her car. Critical Mass riders cruise through downtown San Francisco the last Friday of every month.

The video, posted on YouTube, shows at least a dozen cyclists steering into lanes and toward oncoming traffic. One cyclist appears to stop directly in front of a car, which creeps forward and bumps the bike’s tire.

“Hey, stop that!” the cyclist yells before he lays down his bike in front of the car and walks to the driver’s window. Other cyclists are seen surrounding the car.

“You ain’t going nowhere! Put it in park!” someone is heard yelling. “You’re really going to run me over for stopping for five minutes?” another person is heard saying.

A cyclist, apparently the one whose bike was bumped, is heard telling the female driver that once police arrive on the scene, “You’re done.” Others yell that she has nowhere to go as about half a dozen cyclists surround her car.

The video shows the driver back up and steer right to go around the group, but they roll in front of her again. As the car slowly rolls forward, a man lifts his bicycle and slams it on top of the car hood. Another cyclist — Hespelt, according to police — hits the car with a U-lock before the woman is able to drive away.

He was booked on suspicion of false imprisonment, assault with a deadly weapon, vandalism, maliciously and willfully throwing a substance at a vehicle and misdemeanor inciting a riot.

San Francisco police spokesman Albie Esparza said that although no one involved in the incident filed a police report, authorities investigated because of public interest in the case and because it was caught on video.

The initial contact between the woman’s car and the single bicycle would be investigated as a collision, Esparza said.