McMinnville motorcycle rider killed
A McMinnville man was killed about 1 p.m. Saturday, July 20, when he lost control of his 2000 Kawasaki ZX9 motorcycle and was thrown from the bike. His helmet came off in the crash, McMinnville police said.
Cooper D. Erickson, 21, was fatally injured in the wreck on Hill Road near Southwest Redmond Hill Road.
Witnesses told police that the biker was traveling at a high rate of speed when he lost control. Both he and the motorcycle continued in a high-speed slide on the roadway and shoulder, police said.
After sliding about 250 feet, they hit the passenger side of a 2012 Ford F150 pickup that was turning left into a private driveway on the east side of Southwest Hill Road.
Police said occupants of the pickup were not injured.
Erickson was taken by ambulance to Willamette Valley Medical Center, then flown by Life Flight helicopter to the trauma center at Oregon Health Science University in Portland. He died at OHSU.
Oregon State Police assisted with the investigation. McMinnville police said they don't expect to issue any charges or citations.
Comments
Bill B
Seems unlikely that the motorcyclist would loose control on a straightaway regardless of speed unless something (like a vehicle turning in front of him) caused him to lose control. Very difficult to assess speed while standing.
hikerboy
Hill Road is a speedway. I think the city could do much better policing the 35 mph speed limit between W. 2nd and Alexandria. Prayers to the family and friends of the young man,a senseless tragedy.
RBFduran
I agree with you Bob B.
Based on the article above, it appears that the 2012 Ford F150 turned in front of Cooper as he was riding his motorcycle down Hill Road. Not saying that he was not speeding, but it sure does appear that this fatal accident was not just because he was "traveling at a high rate of speed". This vehicle should not have turned in front of him! I also don't understand how the driver of the ford pickup isn't expected to receive any charges or citations. This sounds real stinky to me!
Sounds like a possible civil case.
tagup
Pretty hard to argue a civil case for damages if the driver was speeding…
Queen Bee
Bill B people wreck all the time on straightaways and the majority of the time it is because they were speeding. In this case speeding and inexperience resulted in unnecessary tragedy.
RBFduran it may make it much more clear to you if you went to the scene of the accident and looked at all the investigation markings. The pickup was fully in the driveway of a residence and the motorcycle had lost control ~ 250ft prior to making contact with the vehicle, you can see based on all the markings the bike was sliding at a high rate of speed on the shoulder of the road hit a culvert, mailbox and the bike came to rest in the driveway so not really sure how you feel the truck would be at fault at all. Further the speed is 35 and when a driver attempts to drive at excessive speeds WELL above the posted speed they are asking for trouble! It is tragic for all involved and this will hopefully open up people eyes of all ages DO NOT SPEED!!!! IT IS NOT WORTH YOUR LIFE OR ANYONE ELSES!!!
Bill B
Queen - You seem to be not taking the physics of a vehicle in motion in to account. Even at 35 mph, a vehicle travels aprox. 50 feet each second. Who knows what really happened, but at the very least an accident reconstruction should have been done.
RBFduran
As a defensive driver, the truck should have waited to turn. I wonder if they didn’t see him? What other reason would make a person turn in front of any type of motorcycle or vehicle that’s driving at a high does, as suggested.
By the way, I did go to the accident site. I still have the same questions?
Tagup - you’re right. The fact that he may have been (most likely) speeding would make it difficult to argue, but it certainly does not remove the responsibility of the driver of the truck.
It appears that Cooper lost control because he saw this truck turning in front of him. There should be at least shared responsibility. Especially with the loss of life.
I hope the driver of that truck realizes they contributed to the death of this young adult by not being a smart driver.
Queen Bee
Bill B maybe you have not read the report issued by the McMinnville Police Department. The McMinnville Police Department was assisted by the Oregon State Police with on-scene crash reconstruction. You should probably update your response as accident reconstruction was completed.
Queen Bee
RBFduran Lets be real here, NONE of this would have happened if Cooper would not have decided to get on a motorcycle and drive at the excessive speeds he chose to drive. The responsibility of a driver is to follow all laws of the road and and in this case there was more than one law broken by the motorcyclist.
I am sure the driver of the truck feels horrible with the outcome but he/she is not the one that decided to drive at VERY dangerous speeds that afternoon either.
It sounds as though some of you need to contact the local authorities and let them know you are not happy with their results as you seem to know that what they determined after doing a on-site reconstruction is not true.
Bill B
Queen - please re-read. It does not say a reconstruction was done. Reconstruction is done by a dedicated team and requires hours to complete.
Queen Bee
Bill B you must not have read the full article posted on the McMinnville Police Department Facebook page. If you read the last paragraph of their article it reads as follows: "The McMinnville Police Department was assisted by the Oregon State Police with on-scene crash reconstruction. No charges or citations are anticipated."
It would be my guess that it was determined the truck driver was not at fault in this accident and they are not charging or citing the deceased motorcyclist.
Flex5796
This is a tragedy, pure and simple. I don't know if any of the commenters have actually ridden a motorcycle but a motorcycle can, and will, crash on a straight away if something causes the front wheel to loose traction on the roadway creating a "death wobble" and is caused from things such as a small rock, pot hole or anything that breaks that traction, including traveling at a high speed and hitting the brakes hard. At 35 MPH young Cooper would have traveled 250 feet in under 4.58 seconds, at 45 it is less than 3.5, that truck would barely have had enough time to see him and break.
That road has always been dangerous for anything faster than 25MPH and people who have grown up driving on it can have a false sense of security with it.
Speeding may have been what caused this but lets not forget the mother out there mourning the loss of her child, the sister who lost her brother and the grandma and aunt who have lost their family member.
Queen Bee
Flex5796 Thanks for sharing additional information regarding how fast this all happened and that it was merely impossible for the truck driver to have avoided this tragic accident.
I would also like to say there are many others mourning the loss of Cooper besides a mother, sister, grandma and aunt. Lets not forget the father mourning the loss of his son, other grandparents, aunts, uncles, numerous cousins, and friends that are also mourning the death of Cooper. There are several people out there that lost a family member way to early.
Flex5796
Queen Bee you are correct on the mourners, the count is far too many with all those that loved him.