Memorial planned for man killed in motorcycle collision

A man killed in a motorcycle accident Sunday night is being mourned by friends and members of Edmonton’s motorcycle community.

Ziade Haddad, 29, died around 11 p.m., Sept. 10, on Parsons Road after a collision with another vehicle south of Anthony Henday Drive, said his friend, Sam Cruz.

“To lose him in this manner was actually really shocking not only for me but his family and other friends as well,” Cruz said. “There’s no words to describe how floored I was by this.”

Police found the victim dead on the road. The car involved in the crash was in a ditch on the east side of the road. A group of friends spent Monday morning combing through the wreckage in an attempt to identify the motorcycle.

Cruz remembered his friend as energetic and outgoing and “a great conversationalist.”

He didn’t ride with Haddad, but was taking motorcycle lessons — something he’s now reconsidering.

A service for Haddad is set for Saturday at 11 a.m. at the St. Michael Parish in Leduc, Cruz said.

Police said Monday no charges had been laid in the collision and have not provided an update.

A few hours earlier that same night, a 23-year-old female motorcycle passenger was killed in a mishap on the opposite side of the city.

Harley Dakota, the mother of a young child, was identified on a crowdfunding page as the victim in a crash at about 9 p.m., Sept. 10, near the bottom of the Victoria Park Road hill. She was riding on a westbound bike when it struck a car headed in the same direction, police said. The 30-year-old man riding the motorcycle was in serious condition at last report.

Alberta Motorcycle Safety Society president Liane Langlois said the crashes highlight the need for all motorists to share the road.