A cyclist who used a bike lock to beat a man in the Georgetown area of D.C. was sentenced to three years in prison.
Maxim R. Smith, 25, of D.C., was sentenced Tuesday for an attack that happened on Aug. 6, 2018. He was convicted last June of assault with a dangerous weapon.
According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney General’s Office for D.C., the victim, a man from Cameroon, was driving his vehicle through Georgetown when he encountered Smith stopped on his bicycle in the middle of the right turn lane on Wisconsin Avenue and M Street.
The victim honked his horn, and Smith yelled expletives and did not move. The victim passed Smith on the left side and he heard a loud thump on the back of his car.
The man pulled over to inspect damages and call the police. Smith turned right, as well, and rode his bike to Prospect Street. When Smith saw the victim on the phone, he shouted, “Are you really calling the police?” and directed a racial slur at him, court documents said.
Smith rode toward the victim, and they got into a fight. He struck the victim on the head with a metal U-lock, while yelling racial slurs at him, court documents said.
The victim required 21 stitches to his head.
A lawyer for Smith told The Washington Post that his client was under the influence of alcohol and cocaine when he attacked the victim. Smith apologized for his actions and admitted that he struck the man because he feared for his safety when the victim got out of the car and grabbed his bicycle, The Washington Post reported.
The jury was hung on the hate-bias enhancement charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C., and the judge was asked to consider the hate motivation at sentencing.
Smith’s prison time will be followed by three years of supervised release.
