UPDATE AUG. 10:
The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office identified the victims as Timothy Chisholm and Casey Lea Stephens.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
A man and a woman from Hollister died in a crash involving their motorcycle Saturday afternoon on Hecker Pass Road in Watsonville.
Alyssa Gutierrez, public information officer for the California Highway Patrol, said the 43-year-old man was driving a 2002 Harley Davidson motorcycle with a 41-year-old female passenger west on Highway 152 at 3:55pm.
For unknown reasons, the motorcycle driver crossed over the double-yellow lines, in stop-and-go traffic, toward oncoming traffic just east of Carlton Road.
That’s when a Ford F550 pickup, driven by a 26-year-old man from Salinas, entered Highway 152 from a farm on the south shoulder. The driver of the motorcycle lost control, smashed into the Ford and overturned, ejecting him and his passenger onto the pavement.
The man was pronounced dead at the scene, Gutierrez said. The female passenger was taken to Watsonville Community Hospital where she later died from her injuries. The Ford driver was not injured.
Gutierrez said both motorcycle riders were wearing helmets.
The identities of the victims are being withheld pending notification of next of kin.
Gutierrez said no arrests have been made regarding alcohol or drugs.
The incident is still under investigation.
