A 63-year-old Huntington Beach man was killed when his motorcycle rear-ended an Orange County Transportation Authority bus on the Costa Mesa (55) Freeway, authorities said Monday.
The motorcyclist was Bruce Fowler, Jr., according to the Orange County coroner’s office. The crash was reported at about 8:15 p.m. Sunday on the northbound Costa Mesa Freeway just north of 22nd Street in Costa Mesa, said California Highway Patrol Officer C. Averill.
Fowler was driving his 2013 Harley-Davidson motorcycle between lanes 3 and 4, and 57-year-old Perry Bogdan of Huntington Beach was driving a 2001 OCTA bus in lane 4 when Bogdan stopped because of traffic congestion, Averill said.
Fowler drove between the lanes at a high rate of speed and for unknown reasons made “an unsafe turning movement to the right” and struck the rear of the bus, Averill said.
Fowler was ejected from the motorcycle and landed in the No. 2 lane, the officer said. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Bogdan was not injured, Averill said.
The northbound Costa Mesa Freeway was closed from 8:46 p.m. to 10:45 p.m. Sunday, the CHP said.
—City News Service