GILROY
– A motorcyclist who collided with a pickup truck he was passing
on the shoulder of Pacheco Pass Highway June 4 was convinced, at
first, that the pickup driver hit him intentionally.
Now he’s not so sure.
GILROY – A motorcyclist who collided with a pickup truck he was passing on the shoulder of Pacheco Pass Highway June 4 was convinced, at first, that the pickup driver hit him intentionally.
Now he’s not so sure.
“He’s not 100-percent sure it was intentional now,” Santa Clara County sheriff’s detective Sgt. Doug Stevens said after interviewing motorcyclist Sean Severson, 25, of Los Banos, again Friday morning.
Severson wasn’t hurt, although his 2001 Yamaha motorcycle was somewhat damaged.
The sheriff’s office is still looking for the pickup truck driver, who did not stop after hitting the motorcycle.
If the collision was an intentional act of road rage, the sheriff’s office could charge this driver with assault with a deadly weapon, a felony that carries a maximum four-year prison sentence. If it was accidental, the driver could still face a misdemeanor charge of hit-and-run which faces a maximum six-month jail term and $1,000 fine.
Severson was eastbound on the two-lane Pacheco Pass Highway near San Felipe Road, coming home from work in Fremont at about 6 p.m., and made a pass on the shoulder. This is an illegal move, Stevens said.
While passing, Severson told Stevens, a black pickup truck swerved several feet onto the highway shoulder, hit his bike and continued on. Severson said the truck was probably a Nissan and had a Harley-Davidson sticker in the back window. The driver was a man in his 40s with shoulder-length gray hair.
Stevens encourages anyone with information about the incident to call him at 686-3664.
Peter Crowley covers public safety for The Dispatch. You can reach him at pc******@gi************.com or 847-7109.
