A 32-year-old motorcyclist died Wednesday afternoon in a fiery collision with an SUV on Oakland’s International Boulevard, while a mother and three teens in the SUV were hospitalized.
Shortly before 3:15 p.m. Wednesday afternoon, a motorcyclist crashed into an SUV and the bike burst into flames, killing the 32-year-old motorcycle driver, according to KTVU. That station also reports that a mother and three children inside the SUV were hospitalized and “treated for minor injuries.” The crash occurred at the intersection of International Boulevard and 39th Avenue, about five blocks from the Fruitvale BART station.
KTVU has surveillance video from the crash, seen above, as well as plenty of blazing aftermath footage with neighborhood small business employees frantically spraying the bike with fire extinguishers. You don’t see the motorcyclist in the flames, as the impact ejected him several yards away from the motorcycle.
"He was unconscious. He was lit on fire, but he wasn't moving,” witness Alex Esquivel told KTVU. “We tried everything we can to help him."
The video sure seems to indicate the motorcyclist was traveling at an unsafe speed. In the words of KTVU, “Police said speed was a factor in this crash.”
There was thankfully an Oakland police officer, also on a motorcycle, who was in the area and saw the fire, arriving on the scene a mere 30 seconds after the crash.
Still, residents in the area say the location is particularly crash-prone because there’s a bus lane that many motorists use illegally to speed in or run red lights. "The city, they got to change,” Esquivel told KTVU. “There's been more than 10 crashes here already because of that bus lane."
The name of the 32-year-old male motorcyclist has not been released, as police are still notifying next of kin.
Image: Google Street View
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