Details Released In Fatal Riverside County Motorcycle Crash

VALLE VISTA, CA — A 26-year-old motorcyclist was killed in Valle Vista when he slid into a pickup truck whose driver was trying to maneuver a trailer into his driveway on a dark street, authorities said Monday.

Austun Cooley of Hemet was fatally injured about 9:15 p.m. Friday on Acacia Avenue, just west of New Chicago Avenue, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Officer Jeffrey Osteen told City News Service that Cooley was riding his 2012 Yamaha eastbound on Acacia "at a high rate of speed" when he encountered a Dodge 2500 pickup with a flatbed trailer attached, backing into a residential driveway.

"The rider saw the truck across both lanes, so he threw the motorcycle onto its side (in an attempt to stop)," Osteen said. "He and his motorcycle slid into the pickup."

The CHP spokesman said that the pickup driver, identified only as a 34-year-old man, was not injured. He called 911, and Riverside County Fire Department paramedics reached the scene minutes later, finding Cooley in grave condition.

The motorcyclist was taken to Riverside University Medical Center in Moreno Valley, where he died about 8:30 a.m. Saturday.

Osteen said that the segment of the roadway where the collision occurred has no street lights.
He said that the pickup driver had been in the street for "several minutes," unable to situate the trailer in his driveway.

The man was questioned but not arrested.

According to Osteen, the motorcyclist may have been under the influence of alcohol, but autopsy results had not been confirmed.

The investigation was ongoing.