Dead motorbike rider loved doing stunts
New dad, 19, was fatally injured in bike-car collision.
RIVIERA BEACH — Donte Carswell Fulwood died riding.
The wheelie on a side street in Riviera Beach was hardly his craziest trick. He was the teen who balanced on a motorbike with one knee, front wheel in the air, and flew down Broadway. He was fearless.
On Jan. 13, the 19-yearold sped south on Avenue E toward the intersection of West 22nd Street. He looked over his shoulder, according to a Riviera Beach police officer sitting in a patrol car about a block away, and crashed into the side of a vehicle heading east on West 22nd. The right rear wheel of the car dislodged from the rim. Fulwood went flying.
Nearly two weeks later, on Jan. 25, the young father died from head and internal injuries, police records state. Authorities said he wasn’t wearing a helmet. Riders like Fulwood rarely do.
Parades of riders on motorcycles, ATVs and dirt bikes have caused headaches for South Florida residents and police for years. A West Palm Beach resident told The Post last year he thought they were “a menace to society,” citing the noise and frequent disregard of traffic laws. Many of the bikes are built to be ridden off-road, not on city streets.
In Riviera Beach, there’s a core group of 20-somethings who lead the city’s riding scene, said Sgt. Bertram Fashaw. It’s nothing like the scores of riders seen in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, but it’s enough to cause concern, he said.
Fashaw works in Riviera Beach’s police’s traffic unit, where he juggles residents’ pleas to keep flash mobs off the city’s streets with the need to keep his officers and the riders safe.”They want to bait you into (a chase) ... so they can say, ‘Look at me! Come and get me!’” Fashaw said. The risk to the riders, who rarely wear protective gear, and other drivers is too great.
So instead officers wait until riders are off the bikes — “they got to fuel ’em up somewhere” — and give citations for driving off-road vehicles on paved streets, Fashaw said. Those fines can run more than $1,000 and it can cost several hundred more to get a seized vehicle back. The fear of fees, Fashaw hopes, is enough to deter at least some riders.
Fulwood picked up a few traffic citations for violations such as riding an ATV on the road, court records show. But that didn’t stop him. It usually takes a deadly crash to make riders realize the dangers of what they’re doing, Fashaw said. As for Fulwood’s death, “it wasn’t necessary,” he said with frustration in his voice.
Fulwood loved the speed, the challenge and the rush of riding anything with wheels, said Jade Riggins, his longtime friend and fellow rider. “Let’s put it this way: Donte was ‘DTR,’ down to ride,” Riggins said with a smile in her voice.
But riding safely in the city? Well, there aren’t safe places police spokeswoman Rose Anne Brown can recommend.
“The stunts aren’t safe,” she said, adding that the bikes aren’t meant to ride on the streets in the first place.
In the weeks after his death, friends have flooded Fulwood’s Facebook page with videos, pictures and stories of the teen who would rally his friends to get out and ride.
He learned everything he could about how the bikes worked and got a job as a mechanic in Lake Park, Riggins said. He studied the craziest tricks and poured himself into mastering each of them.
“He showed a lot of people how not to be scared,” Riggins said.
Fulwood became a father last year to a little girl whom he adored. Her first birthday fell on Feb. 3, the day of her father’s funeral.
Riggins said a group of riders got on their bikes and “put on a show” for Fulwood’s daughter. They shared birthday cake over memories of her father, the energetic rider who brought bikers together.
“We always have to smile because Feb. 3 is always going to be a holiday,” Riggins said. “It’s always going to be Donte’s day. We’re always going to ride for him.”
Echoing Fulwood’s signature phrase, “He’s OK,” Riggins said.