Motorcycle Fatality - A family needs help.

I agree with the attorney, the story is either bogus, or the facts at hand are essentially correct and the biker may be at fault. Either way he is also correct that the editors dropped the ball in presenting the story without including any verifying information.



Now for the facts. Who in the heck rides at 1 in the morning on I-20 with ten grand in his pocket and no ID. Think about it, "He was killed so bad that they had to cremate his body and they could barley get a fingerprint of him so he could be identified." They could not identify him from a drivers license, license plate, bike registration, credit card, proof of insurance card? Common. He was identified by a fingerprint. So, was he a felon? No way that bike would have been stuck under the front of that truck if it had been moving with the flow of traffic. Guess what, Interstates and Freeways have minimum speed laws too and they are there for a reason.



No doubt that anyone could take the opposite point of view form me and make an argument and feel they are just as correct, because we have no independent evidence of what actually happened, if anything.

Thanks for helping me make my point. I guess in the best possible light the police wanted to make sure that the guy on the bike was actually the owner, but surely if they had a registration and or drivers license there would be faster ways to find that out. One gets the feeling from reading the story that the police first concern was to figure out who this guy was, and that would indicate a lack of personal identification. Combine that with a big wad of money in his pocket, fingerprint ID, and not returning all the money and I am thinking this smells a lot like a drug dealer. Speculation? You bet! That is all we can do without information.



Another fishy thing. She said he was going to Atlanta to be a tree climber? Remember she is his girlfriend and I would guess she has spent a fair amount of time around him. Did he refer to himself as a tree climber? I have a couple of good friends who do tree work and I have never heard them use that term, in fact I have never heard anyone use that term.

Now, here is a real story, about a very good friend of mine, who was killed two Sundays ago in southern Mississippi. A young lady with no drivers license and no insurance turned left in front of him killing him instantly. Now if you want to get outraged, how about this, no charges were filed! This guy was a brilliant doctor, probably saved thousands of lives during his career and now he is gone because of this little "^&**%$". The newspaper article says he was 47, that's incorrect, he was 57. I probably rode with this man every Sunday for three years, save five or six.





Two killed in weekend accidents

Karen Freeman

Enterprise-Journal



Published Monday, November 08, 2004 1:55 PM CST



A Sunday morning crash in Amite County involving an unlicensed teenage driver resulted in the death of a Zachary, La., physician.



And in a separate wreck on Saturday, a Magnolia man died in a one-vehicle accident on Hamp Lea Road.







Staff Sgt. Rod Crawford, public information officer for the Mississippi Highway Patrol, said Dr. Tony Jackson Ryals, 47, a Baton Rouge neuroradiologist, died on Sunday after a 1999 Honda Passport, driven by 17-year-old Crystal Ramsey, 110 West End Drive, Magnolia, apparently turned in front of Ryals’s 2004 Motoguzzi motorcycle.



The accident happened at about 11:13 a.m. on Highway 568 at Gene’s Grocery. Crawford said the Passport is registered to Shirley Ramsey, also of 110 West End Drive.



Crawford said Ryals was traveling alone on the motorcycle and was headed east toward Magnolia. Ramsey was driving west and apparently crossed Ryals’ path at the store when the accident occurred.



Ryals went by EmergyStat ambulance to Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead of his injuries, said Crawford.



Pike County Coroner Percy Pittman said Ryals was wearing a helmet and fell from his motorcycle in the accident.



Pittman said Ryals didn’t have visible life-threatening injuries, and it’s possible that he broke his neck.



Neither Ramsey, nor her passengers, were injured.



Because the accident involved a fatality, Crawford said the wreck will be reviewed by a reconstructionist. He added that although it appeared no alcohol was involved, toxicology reports are being conducted.



Crawford said the wreck emphasizes the dangers that await inexperienced drivers — especially those who are distracted from the road, either through passengers, music or phones.



"There are already a lot of distractions out there that we can’t do anything about," and state officials are trying to beef up the laws for young drivers. "Inattention is an issue of great concern when teenagers are driving," he said.



Crawford said statistics bear out the fact that teen drivers have more wrecks when there are other people in a vehicle with them.







****************************************************







Tim and I rode up there today. The accident happened in front of Gene’s Grocery on highway 568 about 8 miles west of I-55. We spoke with folks that work at the store, two of whom were there at the time of the accident. One of people at the scene was a nurse. Apparently she arrived just seconds before the accident happened. They said the Tony died virtually immediately. The nurse said he drew one breath after she approached and did not suffer.







They said that no one told Renee about Tony. She followed the ambulance to the hospital thinking that Tony was still alive.







Tony had virtually no warning or time to react. About 12-15 feet from the point of impact there was a 4-5 foot long skid mark. Then there was a 2-3 foot section of no apparent skid marks and then a very short 1.5 – 2 foot skid mark. That was all there was.











Johnny Diamond



Destin, FL 850-217-7042



Baton Rouge, LA 225-954-2170

Ok, here is the stroy from the St. Clair Times.



ST. CLAIR NEWS



Man killed on I-20 identified

Daniel Thompson

07-28-2004



A man killed in a wreck Saturday morning has been identified by the St. Clair County Coroner's Office as Acre Crittender Salvador, 43.

The wreck occurred around 1 a.m. in the eastbound lane of I-20, about three-tenths of a mile from the Brompton exit.



According to St. Clair County Coroner Dennis Russell, Salvador was killed on his motorcycle when a pickup truck hit him.



Russell said witnesses at the scene reported that Salvador was sitting stationary on his motorcycle in the far right lane, and did not have his lights on.



After being hit by the pickup truck and thrown 500 feet, Salvador was then struck by an 18-wheeler and two other cars, Russell said.



Salvador was identified by his fingerprints.











About Daniel Thompson Daniel Thompson is a staff writer for The Daily Home.





Contact Daniel Thompson Phone:

205 884-3400

"The photo that's now posted actually sheds a completely different light on this, since it appears that the collision occurred on the shoulder of the road and not in the far right lane, as first indicated".



I don't think you are thinking this all the way through. Let's assume for a second the witnesses in the newspaper story are correct and the collision occurred in the slow lane of I-20. The photo only shows where the truck stopped, it says nothing about which lane the collision occurred in. It is not only possible but probable that the driver of the truck tried to get off the road after the collision. If the impact occurred in the slow lane you would have to believe there would be evidence of that, like a long road gouge as the bike was pushed forward under the front of the truck, and the same would be true if the impact occurred on the shoulder, but we don't have that evidence, either way, we do have witnesses though. Witnesses at the scene, according to the St. Clair Times, say the bike was sitting in the far right lane with it's lights off. I see nothing in the photo that contradicts that.

There is no question that riding a motorcycle puts you at greater risk of bodily harm than other common forms of transportation, including riding in a car. Many of us accept that risk because we perceive motorcycling to be a pleasurable experience. Risk exposure can be divided into two areas, things we can control and things we can't control. It is my opinion the list of controllable risk factors is long and the latter is short. Riders can mitigate their risk exposure by paying close attention to the "things I can control list". Here is a quick example ranked in order of importance.



1. Wear a full face helmet

2. Wear full protective motorcycle specific riding gear with armor.

3. Take the motorcycle safety foundation beginner and advanced courses.

4. When possible choose routs with less traffic.

5. Comply with state inspection laws and stay up to date with your motorcycle maintenance schedule.

6. Choose a light, maneuverable, motorcycle with good brakes, to ride.

7. Don't ride at night.

8. Don't ride when you are tired.

9. Don't ride under the influence.

10. Obey traffic laws.



You get the idea, obviously the list could go on and on. There is no doubt that at times we all fudge on these safety issues, but with the understanding that we do so at a price. The list of things we can't control goes like this.



1. Behavior of other motorcycle riders and car drivers.



That's about it. If I were to think long and hard I might come up with a couple of others. The good news is paying attention to number 4 on the first list reduces problems connected to number 1 on the second list. Paying close attention to the first list 10 won't insure you don't get run over by the second list big number one, but it sure will improve you odds a bunch.



One more thing. Everyone has different safety priorities and I am sure others would add to my safety list and rearrange it as well. I have a friend who would put number 7 "Don't ride at night" at the top.