Last summer, John Carothers (in photo) sped by cyclist Cindy Sharp on a rural road in Washington County (read an account of by someone on the ride). Carothers was towing a boat and allegedly threw water on Sharp as he drove by. The incident resulted in Sharp being bumped off the road and into a ditch, severely injuring her arm.
Carothers did not stop to see if she was OK and the community went on an all-out offensive to find him. Just five days later, acting on tips from the public, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office tracked Carothers down and he turned himself in.
Yesterday, he was sentenced to nine months in jail. According to a report on KGW, he could be eligible to serve the last eight months of his sentence in a work-release program if he shows good behavior.
*In an email to the OBRA list last week, Sharp’s riding partner John Schader had these details:
“As for the boat: he (Carothers) has agreed to sell the boat and the trailer and he will donate $5000 to the Leukemia and Lymphoma society (the organization for which Cindy was cycling and raising money last summer).”
Schader also added that the passenger who spit water in Sharp’s face just before the trailer knocked her off the road pled guilty to a misdemeanor. He was supposed to get 30 days in jail, but instead got 8 months in an Arizona prison for a probation violation.
[*These last two paragraphs were added after I posted the initial story.]