Tech executive charged in Marin road rage case

The intersection of E Blithedale Ave & Camino Alto in Mill Valley. Jeffrey Smock, 40, of Kentfield is accused of getting off his bicycle on the busy Mill Valley street and severely beating a motorist in an alleged act of road rage. less The intersection of E Blithedale Ave & Camino Alto in Mill Valley. Jeffrey Smock, 40, of Kentfield is accused of getting off his bicycle on the busy Mill Valley street and severely beating a ... more Photo: Google Maps Photo: Google Maps Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Tech executive charged in Marin road rage case 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

A Marin County tech executive was charged Tuesday with felony assault by prosecutors who accused him of getting off his bicycle on a busy Mill Valley street and severely beating a motorist in an alleged act of road rage.

Jeffrey Smock, 40, of Kentfield is scheduled to be arraigned May 16 on a charge of assault by means likely to cause great bodily injury, said the county district attorney's office.

A police officer took Smock into custody April 16 after witnesses reported that he was the aggressor in an altercation with a 55-year-old pickup truck driver. Smock beat the driver unconscious, even as bystanders yelled and honked their car horns, police said.

The two were in a spat over whether the truck's mirror had struck Smock as both men traveled along East Blithedale Avenue, police said. The men caught up with each other at the intersection of Camino Alto, according to officials.

A police spokesman said a nearby motorcycle officer heard horns and shouting at the intersection and arrested Smock after seeing a "man lying in the street with blood on his face and on the ground near him."

Smock, who was later released from custody, is an avid cyclist and the founder and former chief executive of Iron Data, an Atlanta software company now based in Arlington, Va. Before that, Smock ran LightNetworks, an Atlanta telecommunications firm. Efforts to reach him have been unsuccessful.

The driver of the pickup truck was hospitalized with "serious injuries," according to police, but has since been released.