The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Report: Rider was going 99 mph before fatal crash
Girl, 15, in SUV and motorcyclist killed in Sept. 25 crash
GLASTONBURY — Amber Sehrt was driving toward Hebron Avenue one September Sunday when she saw a motorcycle speed down the street and through a roundabout. She told her 14-year-old daughter, “Oh my God, he is going to hurt somebody.”
Moments later, the motorcyclist slammed into the passenger side of an SUV that was starting to turn left from Hebron Avenue onto a highway ramp, according to the police report obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media. The crash killed the motorcyclist and Andra Spencer, 15, of Colchester, who was a passenger in the SUV.
Gordon “Mac” Southby, 18, of Glastonbury, who police say had a history of recklessly riding motorcycles and dirt bikes around town, was traveling close to 100 mph seconds before the impact, investigators said in the report. Police also said he had alcohol and THC in his system.
If Southby survived, he would have been charged with negligent homicide with a motor vehicle, driving while under the influence, reckless driving, possession of alcohol by a minor and failure to display a marker, the report said.
John O’Brien, the lawyer for Southby’s mother, H. Veronica Southby, said the family disagrees with parts of the accident report and plans to hire its own experts to reconstruct the crash and review toxicology reports.
“We need to retain an accident reconstruction expert as well as a toxicologist regarding the claim that Mac was intoxicated, or that his consumption of alcohol in any way contributed to this collision,” O’Brien said in an interview with Hearst Connecticut Media.
According to the accident report, police were flooded with 911 calls about the crash around 6:50 p.m. Sept. 25. The first responders encountered a horrible scene: A 2016 GMC Acadia with a hole in its side was partially up a ramp to Route 2 East. A wrecked motorcycle, a 2013 Yamaha YZFR6, was in a grassy area on the side of the road.
The motorcyclist had hit the passenger side of the SUV with such force, he penetrated it and ended up in the vehicle’s third row, with the passenger-side door frame “bent around his body,” Officer Patrick W. Hemingway wrote in a supplementary report.
The rider had extreme trauma to his legs, hips, chest and head, and Hemingway couldn’t find a pulse. Police and firefighters pulled him out of the vehicle and performed CPR. He was taken to Hartford Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Officers recognized him as Southby, who they had charged with reckless driving in the past.
The teenager in the second row of the SUV suffered severe trauma to the right side of her head, according to the report.
Officer Neal P. Cavanaugh detected a faint pulse on the girl, he wrote in his report. With help from firefighters and medics, he pulled her from the Acadia. They started CPR and she was taken to Connecticut Children’s, where she was placed on life support. She later was removed from life support and died.
The woman in the driver’s seat was dazed, but didn’t appear to have serious physical injuries, and the front-seat passenger
complained of head pain, police said in the report. Both were taken to Hartford Hospital.
Investigators said several people saw the motorcycle speeding up and down Hebron Avenue before the deadly crash, the report stated.
According to the report, a resident looked out his window and saw a motorcycle traveling “at least 50 mph” on Hebron Avenue about 6:40 p.m. The westbound motorcycle then shifted through “three or four” gears to reach what the man — who also rides motorcycles — estimated to be 90 to 100 mph, the report stated.
A short time later, a couple pulled out of a Hebron Avenue restaurant and saw a blue motorcycle “zigzagging” back and forth behind them and tailgating, according to the report.
Video shows the motorcycle “accelerating aggressively,” investigators used test drive data to determine the acceleration rate for the motorcycle, which is capable of going from 0 to 100 mph in six seconds, the report stated. Police concluded that as the motorcycle passed Sycamore Street, the closest side street to the crash scene, it was going 99.3 mph, covering 145 feet per second, according to the report.
The toxicology information is redacted from the original report. However, a revised report released by Lt. Kevin Szydlo, public information officer for the Glastonbury Police Department, stated Southby’s blood-alcohol content was four times the legal limit of 0.02 for someone under 21.
Spencer was a junior at Bacon Academy in Colchester. Described as “joyful and loving,” the teen cherished her three dogs and loved pandas, according to her obituary.
She was a budding photographer whose work already was gaining recognition. Two of her photographs placed in the 2020 Boston Flower Show Youth Division, her family said in the obit.
Southby, who had attended Glastonbury High School, was charismatic and smart, his principal said. According to his obituary, he was an Eagle Scout who had played hockey and knew how to play five instruments. He also was a gifted mechanic who built motorcycles.
However, the motorcycles are what repeatedly got him into trouble with Glastonbury police, records show.
In two separate arrests in 2022, police charged Southby with reckless driving and nine other traffic violations, including speeding, passing in a no-passing zone and failure to display plates, according to a warrant for his arrest.