JOSH
09-20-2004, 07:57 PM
This was a kid I went to school with. I just want to say one thing. We have a Dragstrip here Just like in Memphis, USE IT...Street racing will get you killed.
Driver at large after fatal bike crash
Motorcyclist killed at S. Memphis site used for illegal drag racing
By Chris Conley
Contact
September 20, 2004
Police searched Sunday for a car driver who fled after a deadly collision with a motorcyclist on an industrial road sometimes used for illegal drag racing.
Walter Patrick McCarver, 24, died early Sunday when his Honda motorcycle, traveling by some estimates up to 100 mph, hit the side of a car that had turned in front of him on Riverport Road. The road is near the Allen Fossil Plant, a power-generating facility in Southwest Memphis.
Two other cyclists were able to avoid the 1987 Chrysler Fifth Avenue, but McCarver was trapped by a row of spectators' cars parked facing the street.
After the accident, the driver of the Chrysler attempted to remove his tags and fled on foot, said Maj. H.E. Sullivan of the traffic unit.
Angry spectators flipped the car on its side, Sullivan said.
The three cyclists were racing east on Riverport about 2:15 a.m. when the westbound car U-turned into the eastbound lanes, Sullivan said.
"Two of them evaded to the south," Sullivan said. "The third crashed into the side door."
Police had not located the driver by late Sunday. No charges had been filed, Sullivan said.
Tony Brocato and other witnesses said that the stretch of road was packed with young people and their cars early Sunday.
They said the driver of the Chrysler was spinning his car in the middle of the street just before the crash.
On weekend nights, they said, large crowds of young people gather, drink and sometimes fight.
They said the place was particularly congested and chaotic early Sunday.
Racing and gambling on races take place in two areas of Riverport, just south of Mallory and farther south near the steam plant, witnesses said. Police shut it down two years ago, but only temporarily.
When police come through, the crowd disperses but soon regroups, they said.
Friends of McCarver examined the skid marks and scrapes left by the motorcycle and the car, pointing to shattered automotive parts left from the crash.
"They need to stop all those young people from coming here," said Brocato, who used to race in Motocross competitions.
Brocato, 38, said he has lost six friends to crashes in the past few years. He and McCarver sometimes rode together.
McCarver "was a good person, laid-back . . . never started any trouble," Brocato said.
- Chris Conley: 529-2595
Driver at large after fatal bike crash
Motorcyclist killed at S. Memphis site used for illegal drag racing
By Chris Conley
Contact
September 20, 2004
Police searched Sunday for a car driver who fled after a deadly collision with a motorcyclist on an industrial road sometimes used for illegal drag racing.
Walter Patrick McCarver, 24, died early Sunday when his Honda motorcycle, traveling by some estimates up to 100 mph, hit the side of a car that had turned in front of him on Riverport Road. The road is near the Allen Fossil Plant, a power-generating facility in Southwest Memphis.
Two other cyclists were able to avoid the 1987 Chrysler Fifth Avenue, but McCarver was trapped by a row of spectators' cars parked facing the street.
After the accident, the driver of the Chrysler attempted to remove his tags and fled on foot, said Maj. H.E. Sullivan of the traffic unit.
Angry spectators flipped the car on its side, Sullivan said.
The three cyclists were racing east on Riverport about 2:15 a.m. when the westbound car U-turned into the eastbound lanes, Sullivan said.
"Two of them evaded to the south," Sullivan said. "The third crashed into the side door."
Police had not located the driver by late Sunday. No charges had been filed, Sullivan said.
Tony Brocato and other witnesses said that the stretch of road was packed with young people and their cars early Sunday.
They said the driver of the Chrysler was spinning his car in the middle of the street just before the crash.
On weekend nights, they said, large crowds of young people gather, drink and sometimes fight.
They said the place was particularly congested and chaotic early Sunday.
Racing and gambling on races take place in two areas of Riverport, just south of Mallory and farther south near the steam plant, witnesses said. Police shut it down two years ago, but only temporarily.
When police come through, the crowd disperses but soon regroups, they said.
Friends of McCarver examined the skid marks and scrapes left by the motorcycle and the car, pointing to shattered automotive parts left from the crash.
"They need to stop all those young people from coming here," said Brocato, who used to race in Motocross competitions.
Brocato, 38, said he has lost six friends to crashes in the past few years. He and McCarver sometimes rode together.
McCarver "was a good person, laid-back . . . never started any trouble," Brocato said.
- Chris Conley: 529-2595