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Fatal Collision Of Motorcycles Might Have Been Game Of 'Chicken'
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Published: May 12, 2008
Updated: 05/12/2008 04:50 pm
PALMETTO - Several youths were watching Sunday when two motorcycles collided in Palmetto, killing a Bradenton teen and leaving a Palmetto man in the hospital fighting for his life.
Denzel McClendon, 15, of the 5600 block of 23rd Street West in Bradenton was killed in the collision; 18-year-old Trevion Murray, of the 4000 block of 9th Street East in Bradenton, was flown to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg after the wreck and he is in critical condition there, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
Authorities are saying the 6:15 p.m. collision was completely avoidable because the two drivers, neither wearing a helmet, were heading straight toward one another when the accident happened in a field south of the 700 block of 17th Street East, north of Palmetto.
"I don't know if they were just not paying attention to each other, or if they were playing chicken," said highway patrol Sgt. William Pacoe. "Maybe they were trying to show off for the kids that were watching."
In "chicken," Pascoe said, drivers of cars or motorcycles drive directly at one another until one "psyches out" and veers off. The first one to veer away is the loser in the test of nerves, Pasco said. He reiterated that the "chicken" game was but one of several options that may have led to the crash. "I don't know if one hit a depression and lost control," he said.
McClendon was a student at Bradenton Prep, and Murray attended school in Palmetto.
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