Virginia Injury Lawyer Blog

Georgia sailor dies in Chesapeake motorcycle crash

Navy sailor and Georgia native Clifton Heard died Tuesday in a Chesapeake motorcycle crash after he and another rider were allegedly speeding.

Heard, 26, was riding his motorcycle in the 4000 block of Holly Cove Drive in Chesapeake’s Bowers Hill area when the crash happened at about 5:15 p.m., WVEC-TV reported.

Witnesses told police that both motorcycles were speeding, struck each other, and then stuck a parked vehicle.

At least one – and possibly both – motorcycles then struck a concrete utility pole, breaking it.

"They was racing and what not and a burgundy Expedition had came in the way and so one of them tried to swerve and hit the light pole, which you can see, and the other one just slid,” an unidentified witness told WAVY-TV.

Heard, a native of Winterville, Ga., was stationed at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek Fort Story. He was wearing a helmet, according to the Daily Press of Newport News.

The other motorcyclist – a 30-year-old man unidentified so far – is hospitalized with head injuries at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. He was not wearing a helmet, WVEC reported. There has been no further word on his condition.

Police closed Holly Cove Drive for several hours after the crash, stringing police tape across the street as officers investigated the crash.

The crash was the third fatal motorcycle crash in Chesapeake in 2009 and the 11^th fatal motorcycle crash in South Hampton Roads since June 1, according to a Virginian-Pilot database of fatal motorcycle crashes.

Labels: chesapeake Clifton Heard Holly Cove Drive motorcycle accident motorcycle crash navy