|
|
State police said yesterday they are still trying to piece together the cause of Saturday night's head-on collision between a Honda Prelude and a group of 17 motorcycles on the way home from a benefit rally.
State Police Sgt. Robert W. Dudley Jr. said yesterday that no charges have been filed in the crash off River Road in Spotsylvania County.
But at least one motorcyclist hurt in the crash, Donald Hooper, has been released from the hospital, an Inova Fairfax Hospital spokeswoman said yesterday.
The crash occurred just after 6 p.m. Saturday when the Prelude's driver, Dianna L. Neal, was headed west on River Road, just past Pine Run Lane. Neal's car was coming out of a curve in the road when it met the motorcycles, which were approaching the curve from the west.
"At that point, there was a collision between the motorcycles and the passenger vehicle," Dudley said.
The accident closed River Road in both directions for more than four hours, until about 10:30 p.m.
Dudley said Neal was taken to Mary Washington Hospital, which doesn't release information on its patients.
Four motorcycles were involved in the crash, Dudley said. The driver and passenger of a fifth motorcycle also were injured after tipping their bike over into the road to avoid the wreck.
It still wasn't clear yesterday how many bikers were injured in the accident, but Dudley said he believed it was between six and eight people.
Besides Hooper and Neal, the crash victims' names on Trooper Dawn Long's accident report are Glen Honeycutt, David Stevens, Luanna C. Watson and Dwight Gaskins, Dudley said. Another female also was transported to a hospital; her name did not appear on Long's report.
Bikers at the scene Saturday said they belonged to the Leathernecks of Virginia, a motorcycle-riding club for Marines.
The group had spent the day in Waynesboro, meeting Waynesboro firefighters and members of about eight other motorcycle clubs for a rally in support of Camden Jarvis, a 7-year-old leukemia patient.
The group's members were just about to split up, with each driver heading home separately, when the crash occurred, members said.
Dudley said it wasn't clear how fast Neal was traveling, but the Leathernecks of Virginia were going about 35 mph in a staggered formation.
The posted speed limit on River Road is 45 mph.
To reach RUTH FINCH: 540/720-1622 rfinch@freelancestar.com