Jersey man dies in Sloatsburg motorcycle crash
Photo credit: John Meore | Town of Ramapo Police Headquarters, Airmont. (May 9, 2012)
The southbound side of Route 17 in Sloatsburg was reopened Friday morning after an overnight motorcycle crash that killed a 33-year-old New Jersey man closed the road for several hours, police said.
The motorcyclist hit the barrier on Route 17 about 100 yards south of Harriman Avenue shortly after 2 a.m., Ramapo police Sgt. Sal Matos said.
Police did not release the name of the victim because his family had not yet been notified of his death, Matos said.
The investigation is ongoing, but police said witness accounts lead them to believe that high speed may have caused the single-vehicle accident.
The motorcyclist slammed his 2012 Yamaha into the concrete barrier that separates the south and northbound lanes of the main artery through the village, officials said, noting that the bike was so badly mangled that police at first could not make out the model.
The rider was declared dead at the scene, police said. Witnesses told authorities that the man had been at the Rhodes North Tavern in Sloatsburg on Route 17 -- also called the Orange Turnpike -- earlier in the night. Police were awaiting toxicology results to see if the accident was alcohol-related, said Ramapo police Lt. Mark Emma.
