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Motorcyclist, 19, killed in Commack crash

BY BILL MASON | Newsday Staff Writer

11:19 PM EDT, July 2, 2008

A motorcyclist was killed on the Northern State Parkway in Commack yesterday after he crashed into the rear of a car and then into a metal sign post, state police said.

Robert Roche, 19, of Westbury, was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, state police said.

The driver of a Honda was traveling in the left lane of the parkway near exit 46 shortly before 4 p.m., police said, when she saw a motorcycle approaching her in that lane at a high rate of speed in her rear view mirror.

"She wants to get out of its way because its going so fast ... well over the speed limit" so she moved into the right lane to let it pass, said State Police Sgt. Scott Crawford.

Roche may have decided to try to pass her car on the right side, at the same time she was moving into the right lane, Crawford said.

"He locks up the brakes, starts to go down, and hits the rear of the Honda," Crawford said. "He separates from the motorcycle and his person hits a sign post," the exit sign for New Highway in Commack, Crawford said.

Passing motorists, including a doctor and two nurses, tried to help the victim, as did responding Commack Fire Department ambulance volunteers and state police with a defibrillator, Crawford said, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Anyone who may have witnessed or who has additional information concerning the accident is asked to call State Police at the Bureau of Criminal Investigation in Brentwood at 631-231-6389.