Hollister
– A 19-year-old student from the University of California at
Berkeley died in a single-vehicle motorcycle accident on Panoche
Road Thursday, according to law enforcement officials.
Hollister – A 19-year-old student from the University of California at Berkeley died in a single-vehicle motorcycle accident on Panoche Road Thursday, according to law enforcement officials.
Katherine Lew, who was a student at Berkeley but was originally from Rosemead, Calif., was traveling eastbound on Panoche Road, approaching Norton Road on a 2003 Kawasaki Ninja 500 motorcycle at 2:10pm at an estimated speed of 50 mph, said California Highway Patrol Officer Terry Mayes.
For unknown reasons she neglected to decrease her speed around a curve with a posted speed of 15 mph, was unable to negotiate the curve, drove off the roadway into a ditch and was ejected, Mayes said.
“She may have been unfamiliar with the roadway – it’s hard to tell,” she said. “Most people don’t ride Ninjas in that particular area. It’s an odd, out of the way place.”
Although she was wearing a helmet and full riding attire, the motorcycle came down on top of her, causing major blunt force trauma to her chest and neck, Mayes said.
“She was going fast enough that just the impact alone of a 400 or 600-pound motorcycle would kill her on impact from the sudden blow,” she said.
Citizens in the area came upon the scene about two minutes after the crash, saw the motorcycle on top of Lew and called 911, according to a CHP statement.
Because of the remote location it took firefighters from the California Department of Forestry’s Antelope station 17 minutes to get to the accident site, said CDF Battalion Chief Curt Itson. The Antelope station is located about 10 miles east of where the crash occurred, and when firefighters arrived Lew was not breathing and had no pulse, Itson said.
“Unfortunately there are parts of California, not just San Benito County, where emergency response is pretty well spread out,” he said. “When (firefighters) got there bystanders had covered the victim with a blanket… and they immediately started CPR.”
CPR was continued by CALSTAR personnel when they arrived, but Lew was transported to Hazel Hawkins Hospital where she was pronounced dead at 3:52pm, Mayes said.
San Benito County Sheriff’s Detective Sgt. Wes Walker said there usually isn’t a lot of motorcycle traffic in that area of the county, but that the most famous rides are from Highway 25 to King City.
Investigators don’t know why Lew was riding in that area because no one knew she was there and she was riding alone, Walker said.
“She was just out for a motorcycle ride,” he said.
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected]
