Authorities Tuesday were trying to figure out why a decade-old Mercedes leaving an American Legion parking lot was struck by a speeding motorcycle, killing the bike rider and the Mercedes driver in the resulting inferno.
Wayne Campbell, 64, of Lake Elsinore and William Bradehoft, 43, of Riverside were both pronounced dead at the scene of the horrific crash that occurred about 9:30 p.m. Sunday in the 18800 block of Grand Avenue, just north of Morrison Street in the Riverside County town of Lakeland Village near Lake Elsinore.
[symple_googlemap title=”Lakeland Village double fatal” location=”18800 Grand Avenue, Lake Elsinore, Ca” height=”300″ zoom=”13″]
According to the California Highway Patrol, Campbell was driving a 2006 Mercedes-Benz and pulled onto Grand to exit the American Legion Post 200 parking lot, just as Bradehoft was approaching on his 2005 Triumph motorcycle.
CHP Officer Mike Lassig said Bradehoft was traveling “at a high rate of speed,” going southbound on Grand, and did not have time to slow down when Campbell’s Mercedes entered the southbound lanes in the process of turning to go north on Grand.
The motorcycle slammed into the front of the four-door vehicle, triggering a fire on impact, according to Lassig.
He said the Mercedes spun into a fence, where it was consumed by flames.
Riverside County firefighters arrived moments later and doused the blaze.
–City News Service