Motorcyclist dies in apparent road-rage crash
By Adam Foxman
Monday, August 10, 2009
A motorcyclist was killed Monday in a collision with a motor home on Highway 101’s Conejo Grade after he slowed rapidly in front of the recreational vehicle in an apparent road-rage incident, authorities said.
The motorcyclist, a 57-year-old Ventura man, was killed about 12:22 p.m. on southbound Highway 101 near Camarillo Springs Road when he collided with a roughly 30-foot motor home driven by Michael Antoine, 68, of Thousand Oaks, said Officer Terry Uhrich of the California Highway Patrol’s Moorpark office.
Authorities did not identify the motorcyclist because they were still working to notify relatives.
The motorcyclist and Antoine were both traveling about 55 mph when the collision occurred in the right lane, authorities said. Witnesses and Antoine later told authorities that the motorcyclist had made obscene hand gestures, pulled in front of the motor home, then slowed down dramatically, Uhrich said.
Antoine did not have time to react and struck the back of the low-slung custom motorcycle, causing it to become stuck under the front of the RV, authorities said. The motorcyclist was thrown from the bike, run over by the motor home and dragged underneath for about 75 feet, Uhrich said. Unable to steer, Antoine continued about 500 feet and hit the center divider, Uhrich said.
The frame of the motorcycle carved a deep groove in the roadway as it was pulled under the motor home. Antoine was not injured.
The cause of the initial confrontation was unclear, but investigators believe the motorcyclist intentionally slowed in front of the motor home, Uhrich said. There were no other vehicles that would have made the motorcyclist slow to avoid them, he said.
“It looks like partial road rage,” the officer said. Antoine was not suspected of any wrongdoing, Uhrich said.
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© 2009 The E.W. Scripps Co.