CLAYTON, MO (KTVI)- A mistrial was declared Thursday in the case of Sunset Hills Mayor Mark Furrer, who was accused of deliberately striking a bicyclist with his car. According to our partners at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Furrer, 61, told the jury that he never hit the bicyclist, Randy Murdick. The judge declared the mistrial when discussion ranged into a settlement offer in a civil suit Murdick filed.

Mayor Furrer took the witness stand this morning in his assault trial. The mayor`s attorneys hired a forensic engineer to take a close look at the incident that occurred back in July of 2014 near old Gravois in Sunset Hills.

Murdick testified that Mayor Mark Furrer pulled up to him and began yelling a string of profanities telling him to get off his road. Murdick says Furrer turned his Mercedes convertible into Murdick, hit him and caused the cyclist to fall. Murdick was injured and his bike was damaged.

Witnesses yesterday testified that they saw the mayor turning the steering wheel towards the cyclist. The defense`s Expert Engineer, Fred Semke, told jurors witnesses would have a very difficult time seeing the mayor`s hands on the steering wheel and for only a short amount of time. He said if Murdick was hit from the left side his body should have gone right.  But witnesses and Murdick said the cyclist either fell back almost into the mayor`s car or over the handlebars.

On cross examination, Semke admitted he did not use exact numbers concerning the size of all the vehicles or height of the people involved in the incident. He also  conducted some of his testing in a parking lot not where the incident actually occurred.