Cyclist, motorcyclist accuse each other of Forestville road rage

Two acquaintances from west Sonoma County accused one another of road rage Friday after one fell off a bicycle and the other hit the ground on a motorcycle west of Forestville.

Sheriff’s deputies didn’t immediately charge either man in regard to the alleged assaults. The bicyclist went to a Santa Rosa hospital for medical treatment and the motorcyclist went to jail on two unrelated charges.

The men “gave two completely different stories of what happened,” said Sheriff’s Lt. Al Vernon.

Sheriff’s deputies concluded the two men knew one another and had been arguing. After their verbal exchange, one man departed on a bike, followed by the second on a motorcycle.

The two met again along the 8700 block of state Highway 116. The bicyclist accused the motorcyclist of running him off the road, Vernon said. The motorcyclist said when he made a second pass by the spot, the cyclist pushed the bike forward and forced him to crash his motorcycle.

A witness saw only part of the incident, Vernon said. As such, the two men’s allegations will be forwarded to the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office for a decision on whether to bring charges.

The motorcyclist, Kurt Edwin Saunders, 45, of Forestville, was arrested on suspicion of possessing a concealed stabbing weapon, formally referred to as a “dirk or dagger.”

Saunders also is being held for an outstanding warrant from Sacramento County, Vernon said. His bail is $20,500.

Vernon said he had no information on the extent of the bicyclist’s injuries.

You can reach Staff Writer Robert Digitale at 521-5285 or robert.digitale@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @rdigit