Another kid dies running from the cops
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Motorcyclist, 22, killed in crash after fleeing police - SalemNews.com, Salem, MA
The sad part is, the cops weren't even chasing after him....
Motorcyclist, 22, killed in crash after fleeing police
By Chris Cassidy
Staff writer
SALEM — Police said a 22-year-old Peabody man trying to flee them died Wednesday night after his motorcycle crashed into a seawall along a notoriously dangerous stretch of Lafayette Street.
Anthony Espinal of 75 Aborn St. was rushed to Salem Hospital but pronounced dead a short time later.
Espinal and two others — all on motorcycles — were speeding down Palmer Street, a narrow one-way road in The Point, around 11 p.m. Wednesday, police said. At least one of them was doing a "wheelie," tipped up and riding on only one tire, police said. Patrolman Kevin St. Pierre, sitting in his parked cruiser at a medical office across the street, tried to pull over the motorcyclists by boxing them in. All three stopped initially, but then Espinal drove around the cruiser and raced down Lafayette Street toward Marblehead, said police Capt. Brian Gilligan.
St. Pierre radioed the incident in to a dispatcher, reporting the motorcyclist had fled and was traveling at a very high rate of speed, according to police radio recordings released yesterday.
"He's probably in Boston by now, he was going so fast," St. Pierre tells the dispatcher.
Police did not pursue Espinal, Gilligan said. Another patrolman, parked at Fantasy Island on Loring Avenue, responded to assist St. Pierre with the other two motorcyclists, rather than chase the suspect, he said.
Just over a minute later, a Fairview Avenue resident a mile down the road dialed 911 to report "a bad accident."
Police responded and found Espinal lying on the sidewalk, unconscious and with no pulse.
Police say Espinal was approaching a dangerous curve on Lafayette Street just before the Marblehead line when his motorcycle crossed over the yellow line and slammed into a telephone pole and a seawall.
CPR was performed, but Espinal was pronounced dead at Salem Hospital.
"It was the unfortunate result of inexperience and speed," Gilligan said.
Lisa Pennick, the Fairview Avenue resident who called 911, said the sound of the crash was so loud it woke others in the neighborhood.
"It sounded like crunching metal and plastic," Pennick said. "... I thought someone had plowed into our garage, it was so loud."
Pennick said Espinal might have been trying to avoid a Jeep coming from the other direction.
"It looks like he might have swerved to miss them and lost his bearing and crashed," Pennick said. "... He was definitely speeding."
Minor traffic stop
It's still unclear why Espinal chose to flee rather than face a relatively minor traffic citation.
Espinal held only a learner's permit to operate a motorcycle, which prohibited him from driving at night. Police said he was not wanted for any other kind of trouble with the law.
There are no immediate signs that drugs or alcohol played a role in the crash, Gilligan said.
The combination of motorcycles and speed has posed a dilemma for police, who are dealing more and more with bikers who try to flee rather than cooperate with officers, Gilligan said. Not only can motorcycles outrun police cruisers, Gilligan said, but police try to avoid vehicle chases unless the situation is serious.
"It's almost like a game," Gilligan said. "They think they can take off on the police for fairly minor traffic violations. ... Unfortunately, this is what happens sometimes."
Accident reconstruction teams are continuing to investigate.
Yesterday, friends and family placed candles and flowers by a telephone pole at the crash site. It's become an all-too-familiar scene.
Last May, Salem High School senior Zaharias Leventis, 18, died after the car he was driving slammed into a telephone pole at the same dangerous curve on Lafayette Street.
"Something needs to be done to slow them down on both ends," Pennick said. "How many people have to die for them to do something about this?"
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Originally Posted by amajew
I'm fucking disgusted.