Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Failure to countersteer kills supermoto soldier on Dragon


Photo by MARK A. LARGE. Rural/Metro ambulance service personnel, Blount County firefighters and Blount County Sheriff’s Office deputies hoist a motorcyclist up an embankment Friday morning following a crash on “The Dragon.” The man, a lance corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps, was pronounced dead on arrival at University of Tennessee Medical Center. ETR Police State forum is so dead there's no comment on this sudden death.

U.S. Marine killed in crash on ‘The Dragon’

By Wes Wade
Daily Times

MARYVILLE, TENN. -- Officials worked two accidents on Calderwood Highway Friday, one of which occurred on the section known as “The Dragon” and resulted in the death of a North Carolina man.

Sean R. McMillin, 24, of Cherry Point, N.C., was pronounced dead on arrival at University of Tennessee Medical Center after a motorcycle wreck near Mile Marker 7 on “The Dragon.” McMillin was a lance corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps. He was stationed in North Carolina.

McMillin was traveling south on The Dragon when he lost control of his 2005 KTM 525 motorcycle in a curve and went off an embankment at around 11:45 a.m., according to a Blount County Sheriff’s Office report.

McMillin fell about 75 feet down the embankment. The Blount County Fire Department ropes team carried McMillin up the embankment. He was taken via Rural/Metro Ambulance Service to UT Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead on arrival, the report states.

It was the 15th traffic fatality in Blount County this year. The Sheriff’s Office Traffic Safety Unit worked the accident.

Four-hour rescue time kills bikers on the Dragon:

Two-vehicle wreck

Blount County deputies also responded to a two-vehicle accident on Calderwood Highway at around 3:45 p.m. Friday. Margaret Williams, 64, of Stable Crossing, Maryville, was traveling south on Calderwood Highway near Baumgardner Road when her Ford Taurus crossed the double yellow line and struck a pickup truck driven by Judson Pinkerton Jr., 29, of U.S. 411 South in Maryville.

Pinkerton’s truck flipped onto its top and skidded about 100 feet. Both drivers were trapped inside their vehicles and had to be extricated by Blount County firefighters.

Williams and Pinkerton were both taken via Rural/Metro Ambulance Service to UT Medical Center. Hospital staff said they did not have Williams listed as a patient. Pinkerton was still being treated in the emergency room Friday night and his condition was not immediately known.

Williams was wearing a seat belt and air bags deployed in her vehicle, the report states. Pinkerton was not wearing a seat belt, according to the report.

There were no passengers in either vehicle and no citations have yet been issued in connection with the crash, police said.

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