Police say rage on Newport Beach bike path leads to arrest

While Luke Fetzer and his friend were biking on Pacific Coast Highway in Newport Beach earlier this month, they encountered two aggressive vehicles, one of which was following Fetzer's friend so closely that the cyclist was forced to exit the designated bike lane.

The road rage encounter, which Fetzer detailed in an Instagram video and said included insults being yelled at them, has now led to an arrest, but Newport Beach police say the investigation is ongoing.

Officers arrested Samir Sweiss of Corona in the March 21 incident, part of which Fetzer captured on video. The footage, which shows a blue BMW following a cyclist on the bike lane, forcing him to jump from curb to curb, has gone viral on Fetzer's Instagram page. Fetzer did not immediately respond to a question from the Times. The video also shows a passenger in the blue BMW throwing a bottle of water out the window in the direction of the cyclists.

Sweiss was booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and obstruction of arrest, according to an incident update from the Newport Beach Police Department. It is unclear if other arrests may be made, but police said they seized a blue BMW as part of the investigation.

In an Instagram video explaining the encounter, Fetzer says there were two cars harassing him and his friend, despite their position in the bike lane and following traffic rules. Fetzer said that early in the incident, he sprayed water on one of the cars in frustration, but he didn't expect the reaction he got.

Fetzer said cars swerved toward them, honking their horns and endangering the cyclists' lives. Later, Fetzer said, the occupants of both cars got out and tried to block the motorcyclists, threatening to hurt them.

“It's like inches from my back wheel,” Ben Byra, Fetzer's friend and fellow rider, told KTLA. “A couple of lights out everyone got out of their cars.”

“All I want to do is share awareness about bike safety,” Fetzer said.