Tech CEO Jeffrey Smock arrested in Marin road rage beating

The intersection of E Blithedale Ave & Camino Alto in Mill Valley. The intersection of E Blithedale Ave & Camino Alto in Mill Valley. Photo: Google Maps Photo: Google Maps Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Tech CEO Jeffrey Smock arrested in Marin road rage beating 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

A Marin County technology executive was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon after he got off his bicycle and beat a motorist unconscious during an alleged act of road rage in Mill Valley, city police officials said.

Witnesses reported that Jeffrey Smock, 40, of Kentfield was the aggressor in the April 16 altercation and refused to stop beating the 55-year-old motorist after he was down - even as onlookers shouted and honked their car horns, said Mill Valley Lt. Ken Dunkel.

A caller said in an initial report to police that "a body was laying on the street."

Smock, an avid cyclist, is the founder and former chief executive of Iron Data, an Atlanta software company now headquartered in Arlington, Va. Before that, Smock ran LightNetworks, an Atlanta telecommunications firm. Efforts to reach him were unsuccessful.

The attack occurred at about 5 p.m. at the busy intersection of East Blithedale Avenue and Camino Alto, police said, adding that Smock and the motorist were at odds over whether the truck's mirror had struck Smock's bike as both men traveled along East Blithedale.

An altercation ensued, and Smock "inflicted such severe injuries on the driver of the vehicle that the driver ended up being transported to the hospital," Dunkel said. "We had witnesses concerned that the person might die."

Police officials said a nearby motorcycle officer who also heard the horns and shouts found "many persons standing around a man lying in the street with blood on his face and on the ground near him."

The officer took Smock into custody. He has since been released.

Mill Valley police did not initially publicize the incident but issued a news release after The Chronicle reported it online Friday.

Investigators have not yet forwarded their case to the Marin County district attorney's office, which will decide whether to charge Smock, Dunkel said. He did not identify the weapon police believe was used in the alleged beating.

The motorist suffered "serious injuries" and has since been released from a hospital, according to police. Efforts to reach him were unsuccessful.