`Passion` Star Caviezel Injured In Crash

Caviezel was unable to avoid the bicycle and when he struck it, he tumbled and suffered a cut to his hand and a bruise on his leg.

"The Passion of the Christ" star James Caviezel suffered minor injuries while riding his motorcycle in Washington state when he struck a bicycle thrown by a pedestrian, authorities said Friday.

Caviezel was driving his 2006 Harley-Davidson Thursday along a highway, when a man walking along the road threw a bicycle into the actor's path, said Richard Magnussen, a spokesman for the Washington State Patrol.

"There's no relationship between these guys at all, (Caviezel) just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time," Magnussen told Reuters.

Caviezel was unable to avoid the bicycle and when he struck it, he tumbled and suffered a cut to his hand and a bruise on his leg, authorities said. The bicycle got jammed between the front wheel and the engine of Caviezel's motorcycle.

The actor, who was born in Washington State but lives in Los Angeles, was taken to a hospital and released.

Before throwing the bicycle, the pedestrian was acting erratic, gesturing and pointing at the sky, Magnussen said. The man, David Nelson, 42, is expected to be charged with reckless endangerment, Magnussen said.

Caviezel played Jesus in Mel Gibson's 2004 movie sensation "The Passion of the Christ." He currently stars in "The Stoning of Soraya M.," a movie about public stonings in Iran that was released in the United States last month.