UPDATE: The Multnomah County District Attorney's office eventually decided not to pursue criminal charges against Celine Julia Geday, saying it didn't believe it could prove beyond reasonable doubt that she intentionally struck Brian Lee Groce.

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Looking back, Brian Lee Groce wishes he hadn’t said anything to the driver who he said cut him off on Southwest Broadway as she apparently texted.

But Groce, who was riding his bike home to his Southwest Portland apartment Thursday around noon, yelled out that she was an “idiot,” he said, after she took a turn so close to him he could see her fingers on her phone. There may have been an expletive in front of the "idiot," he acknowledged.

Celine Julia Geday

When the driver allegedly responded by honking and flipping him off, he pressed it further, he said.

Catching up with her at a stoplight at Southwest Jackson and Broadway near Portland State University, he yelled at her through her open window that she had nearly hit him.

Then, Groce said, she did exactly that.

Groce, 47, said the driver, identified by Portland Police as Celine Julia Geday, 28, intentionally struck him with her car, knocking him to the ground. He sustained three fractures to his face, road rash and required stitches, he said in a phone interview on Friday from his apartment, where he was recovering.

Based on Groce's account of events and statements from witnesses that the crash appeared to be an intentional act, police called out assault detectives to the scene, rather than traffic investigators. Geday was arrested on accusations of second-degree assault but released Friday as the investigation continues.

She did not return a voicemail message seeking comment.

“This was at lunchtime,” Groce said, “and people did see her turn into me,” he said, adding that witnesses came to his aid after the incident.

“To do something mistakenly is one thing,” he said. “But to intentionally swerve into them is another thing. It was stupid of me to go tell somebody what an idiot they are but more stupid of them to do what she did.”

Groce said he was “kind of in shock” from the incident. His bike appears mostly OK, except his front rim is mangled, he said. But he’s reluctant to get back on, though he doesn’t own a car and relies on his bike to get to his jobs with a catering company and an airport hotel.

He added that he hopes Geday learned something. But he said he did as well -- to refrain from saying anything to drivers.

“There’s lessons all around,” he said.

-- Helen Jung

Correction: This story has been updated to correct Geday's age at the time of the incident.