The man who was accused of mowing and stabbing a California A doctor riding a bicycle along Pacific Coast Highway had threatened his ex-wife shortly before the fatal crash, relatives said, and friends confirmed the 39-year-old accountant was behaving strangely.

Vanroy Evan Smith, 39, an accountant from Long Beach, appeared in court Friday on a manslaughter charge in the death of Dr. Michael Mammon, a 58-year-old emergency physician at Providence Mission Hospital in Laguna Beach..

Prosecutors say Smith ran a red light and hit Mamon around 3 p.m. He then got out of his white Lexus and approached the doctor, took out a knife and stabbed him to death.

Smith’s ex-wife Marla Annette Hart, the mother of his twin girls, was so frightened by his behavior that she called the police, her father said The New York Post.

Vanroy Smith (left) has been charged with manslaughter after Dr. Michael Mammon (right) was knocked off his bike and killed on Wednesday

Aerial video shows where a white Lexus hit a cyclist and remained parked hundreds of yards away

“She was concerned about her safety before that,” Stanley Hart said.

Police were called to her home for a welfare check for “something to do with Mr Smith”, he added.

Hart told the newspaper that his former son-in-law, who split from Marla a decade ago, was well-behaved but had “problems”.

Smith and his ex-wife were in the midst of a bitter custody battle over their twin girls.

“It’s not like I didn’t believe it, but I never could have imagined it,” Hart told The Post.

“He’s got some issues, that’s all I can say.

“If the authorities do their due diligence, they’ll probably figure out what those problems are pretty quickly.”

Hart is pictured with his twin daughters. Their father, Vanroy Evan Smith, is charged with murder

Hart was concerned about Smith’s behavior before Wednesday’s incident, her father said

Other friends and colleagues of Smith hinted at problems and said he had suddenly closed his accounting firm.

Joe A. Gilliam, a former client and friend, said the twins were “the world” to Smith, but she believed he hadn’t seen them recently.

She said she tried to contact him repeatedly about paying his taxes, as he has done for the past seven years, but he told her he was out of business.

“I am devastated. I just talked to him on the 23rd and he said he’s doing fine, but he’s going through some things,” Gilliam said.

“He’s a good dude. He is a very good person.

“Something must have triggered him, because it’s not him. He is a good guy. He never has a problem.”

Alice, a former colleague, said she was shocked by the news.

She said she did not know if he had any difficulties in his home life, adding that he never discussed his family. His office, she said, was decorated with photos of his twins.

“I don’t know his personal life, I only know his business,” Alice said.

“I am very shocked by all this. The Evan I know is not this Evan.

“He was a nice, respectable guy. Nothing negative. He’s a man with the shirt off his back.”

Smith appeared in court in handcuffs before several deputies and only confirmed his name and date of birth

Smith was said to be holding a BB gun when he approached Mammon, a married father of two, and yelled racial slurs about “white privilege,” ABC7 reported.

Smith was restrained by bystanders until sheriffs arrived and arrested him.

“An innocent man died because he was riding his bike to enjoy a beautiful California day on the beach and was hit by a car and stabbed to death by a man he apparently never met,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. .

“Killing a complete stranger in broad daylight for what appears to be no reason at all is the stuff of nightmares.”

On Facebook, Smith wrote about being of mixed race and posted long ramblings about ethnicity and religion.

“I was born into a black and white family, then had the lucky chance to grow up for the first 12 years in my black family and the next 6 in a white family,” he wrote.

“I’m ambiguous, and I think races are small.”

Smith decried the “resentment, anger, separation, hatred” that he believed were aimed at people because of their race, noting, “It really holds you back.”

He continued, in a checkmark ripe with misspellings: “Why can’t we see that all this is temporary? We all wither and die.

“Were you born with an appearance that people call ugly or deformed? It’s ok, you’ll build a character and then go to another place where I believe there won’t be any restrictions like that if you go to the right place.

“Similarly, do you consider yourself handsome or handsome? Be grateful, not proud. Have you made yourself, and how long will you be so, does that time even appear on the scale of eternity?’

In another post in October 2020, Smith wrote: “Modern Thought: Black vs. Dark & ​​White vs. Light.”

He reflected on the meaning of the colors white and black and said it affects people’s attitudes.

“I am called a black man by my appearance and established standards,” he wrote.

“Does this mean that I give up and give up half of my ancestry? How do you tell someone to filter that stuff out of their blood?

“All in all, we really need to change our way of thinking.”

Dr. Mamone’s destroyed bicycle can be seen on the corner of the intersection after being tossed into the air

Shocking video shows the moment Smith, a trained accountant, plowed into a cyclist in what police say were complete strangers

Although witnesses claim to have seen some sort of weapon, officials have not confirmed if any firearms were found at the scene

Mammone lived in Dana Point (pictured) in California with his wife and two sons

Mammon (in pink shirt) is survived by his wife Julie, a nurse at the same hospital (pictured in a leopard print dress), and two sons, Nick and John

Smith, a father of two, remains in custody at the Orange County Detention Center.

Since 2011, Mamon has worked as an emergency physician at Providence Mission Hospital in Laguna Beach and graduated from the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine in 1993.

He also worked occasionally at Mission Viejo and Children’s Hospital of Orange County in Santa Ana.

The hospital said in a statement: “We are stunned by this devastating tragedy. The entire Mission Hospital family mourns the loss of an incredible physician and friend.

“We will honor Dr. Mamone’s dedication to our community and passion for medicine by continuing to provide exceptional care.”

He leaves behind his wife Julie, a nurse at the same hospital, and two sons, Nick and John.

Cardiologist Dawn Atwal said: “That’s the irony of this whole thing. If a patient was brought in in such a condition, he would do anything to save him.

She added: “He saved so many lives here and he died right next to where he saved hundreds of lives.”