Suspected texter topples Harley rider

Here’s another reason vehicle drives should pull over and park if they simply must read and type text messages or operate their cell phone. It could have been worse …

Officials said the motorcycle rider wasn’t seriously injured, but hurt badly enough to be taken to the hospital.

Story and photos by David F. Ashton
All things considered, it wasn’t that bad of an accident, just after 2:00 p.m. on November 22. Radio reports indicated that a man, who’d been riding his Harley Davidson motorcycle eastbound on SE Stark Street at SE 122nd Ave had was stopped at a traffic signal, string of cars.

A car came up from behind him at low speed, and hit the back of a motorcycle. The motorcycle was not seriously damaged. He was knocked off to the side. His main complaint was pain in the leg and was being transported to a hospital for observation.

Firefighters lift up the motorcycle as a police officer makes notes about the mishap.

Two witnesses at the scene told us the driver’s head was down, as if looking in her lap. “I think she was texting, or calling someone on her cell phone,” said John Gutierrez. “It was all in slow motion.”

The injured man’s brother also talked with us at the scene, as he looked over the highly chromed, but now scraped up Harley. “We were going to head out for a ride today,” he said as he jumped on the motorcycle’s starter lever. It started up, and he drove it off into the Burgerville parking lot.

The injured rider’s brother talks with a police sergeant before driving the scraped-up bike off to safety.

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