2 killed in multiple motorcycle crashes during weekend
Multiple crashes involving motorcycles were reported across Connecticut over the last several days as the state saw a run of sunny weather and temperatures reaching nearly 70 degrees.
The crashes included two reported fatalities, claiming the lives of a 20-year-old in Milford and a 22-year-old in New Milford Saturday evening and Sunday morning less than 24 hours apart.
Statewide, 87 people were involved in motorcycle crashes in April of this year, according to figures compiled in the University of Connecticut’s crash data repository. Three were killed, while nine suffered a “suspected serious injury,” according to the data. The statistics show a slight decrease from April of 2021, when 293 people were involved in motorcycle accidents, six of whom were fatally injured and 28 seriously injured.
Last month also saw five motorcycles involved in a single crash in Woodstock that left several people seriously hurt. The an organizer said the group ride had been coming back from Rhode Island when they were struck by another vehicle.
The spike in deaths last year came as demand for bikes surged during the pandemic. State lawmakers this year once again proposed reinstating the state’s helmet law for adults – the original helmet law was repealed in 1976, but the proposal was dropped in late March due to lack of support.
Other local rules have been aimed at riders of dirt bikes and ATVs on public roads, which legally are only supposed to be ridden off-road. Officials at Bridgeport have considered a rule similar to one already in effect in New Haven that would punish gas stations that sell riders fuel.
The wave of recent motorcycle accidents started as early as last Monday, when a dirt bike rider in Canterbury traveling along a road veered off the roadway, striking a tree, according to state police. The rider was airlifted to Hartford Hospital.
Then on Saturday, police Milford were called to the area of Boston Post Road and Cedarhurst Lane around 7:20 p.m. after a BMW motorcycle collided with a Lexus SUV. The rider, 20-yearold Austin Micha, was killed, according to police.
The following morning, police in New Milford were called to the area of 254 Danbury Road around 11:20 a.m. after a motorcycle crashed into a pickup truck turning into a parking lot, authorities said. The operator, Brandon Forlastro, 22, was pronounced dead at the scene while his female passenger was transported to the hospital in critical condition.
Two other motorcycle crashes were reported later that night, both involving injuries.
Around 6:31 p.m., state police in Brooklyn were called to the scene of a crash on Providence Road near Day Street. State police said a 46-year-old rider of a Suzuki motorcycle lost control. He and his 60-year-old female passenger, both residents of Rhode Island, were hospitalized with suspected serious injuries, according to state police.
Then around 7:13 p.m., Troopers out of Troop H in Hartford were called to the Exit 45 ramp on the northbound side of Interstate 91 in East Windsor for another motorcycle crash. State police said the rider and the passenger both sustained “minor injuries” after they were ejected from the bike during the crash.
They were taken to local hospitals by paramedics, according to state police.