Victim ID'd In Deadly I-84 Harley, Honda Collision

TOWN OF WALLKILL, NY — Officials have identified the victims in a fatal motorcycle crash in Orange County.

The New York State Police say that on Friday, around 8:35 a.m., troopers from the New York State Police Uniform Force and the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) at SP Middletown responded to the collision on I-84, near mile marker 24.1, in the town of Wallkill.

An initial investigation by police found that the 2008 Honda Accord, driven by 53-year-old Josanne Pottinger-Smith, of Newburgh, was traveling west on I-84, when it struck a 2014 Harley Davidson motorcycle operated by 52-year-old Charles Helmka, of Dracut, Massachusetts, who was also traveling west.

The impact caused both vehicles to exit the roadway into the median along the south shoulder.

Helmka was taken by EMS to Garnet Health Medical Center in the Town of Wallkill, where he was pronounced dead. Pottinger-Smith was also taken to Garnet Health Medical Center and treated for minor injuries.

State police were assisted at the scene by the Orange County Sheriff's Office.

The investigation remains ongoing. Anyone with information about the collision is asked to contact SP Middletown at 845-344-5300.