cnewberry
05-31-2006, 12:10 PM
NELSON TOWNSHIP ? A downstate youth fatally injured in a bizarre motocross accident Sunday evening apparently died of an upper neck fracture.
Preliminary results of a post-mortem examination given to police this afternoon indicated that the 14-year-old motocross racer died due to a fracture where the neck meets the skull. Police had not received official autopsy results today.
Police declined to release the name of the youth, who was from Hesston, Pa., just southeast of Altoona, because of his age. Nelson Township patrol office Michael Snyder said the youth, who was wearing a helmet, was competing in an American Motocross Association-sanctioned race at Miles Mountain Motocross, near the Elkland-Nelson Township line.
?There are conflicting reports at this point, and the investigation is still under way,? Snyder said. ?But we believe there were two separate crashes. We?re not sure whether he ran into some trees or just dumped the motorcycle the first time, but he yelled for help.?
Spectators righted the bike and the youth re-entered the race, Snyder said.
?He completed a series of jumps,? he said. ?Then when he landed the last one, a very large triple downhill jump, instead of turning left, he went straight. The flag person on the course said he went off the track and she thought he was going to get back on it, but he didn?t.
?She said she saw his hands fly out to the side,? Snyder said. ?And he looked like he was laying back on the bike. Then he fell off the bike and into a patch of little trees, and the bike went down.
?What we believe right now is that he suffered the injuries that caused his death in the first crash,? Snyder said. ?That last jump was quite high, and the shock of landing may have jarred his skull and neck so that those injuries took effect then.?
Emergency medical workers at the race began treating the youth less than one minute after the second crash, Snyder said. He did not know whether the youth was dead by then, but at least one medical volunteer said he had a pulse after the crash.
He was taken to Corning Hospital by ambulance, and pronounced dead there by an emergency room doctor.
Preliminary results of a post-mortem examination given to police this afternoon indicated that the 14-year-old motocross racer died due to a fracture where the neck meets the skull. Police had not received official autopsy results today.
Police declined to release the name of the youth, who was from Hesston, Pa., just southeast of Altoona, because of his age. Nelson Township patrol office Michael Snyder said the youth, who was wearing a helmet, was competing in an American Motocross Association-sanctioned race at Miles Mountain Motocross, near the Elkland-Nelson Township line.
?There are conflicting reports at this point, and the investigation is still under way,? Snyder said. ?But we believe there were two separate crashes. We?re not sure whether he ran into some trees or just dumped the motorcycle the first time, but he yelled for help.?
Spectators righted the bike and the youth re-entered the race, Snyder said.
?He completed a series of jumps,? he said. ?Then when he landed the last one, a very large triple downhill jump, instead of turning left, he went straight. The flag person on the course said he went off the track and she thought he was going to get back on it, but he didn?t.
?She said she saw his hands fly out to the side,? Snyder said. ?And he looked like he was laying back on the bike. Then he fell off the bike and into a patch of little trees, and the bike went down.
?What we believe right now is that he suffered the injuries that caused his death in the first crash,? Snyder said. ?That last jump was quite high, and the shock of landing may have jarred his skull and neck so that those injuries took effect then.?
Emergency medical workers at the race began treating the youth less than one minute after the second crash, Snyder said. He did not know whether the youth was dead by then, but at least one medical volunteer said he had a pulse after the crash.
He was taken to Corning Hospital by ambulance, and pronounced dead there by an emergency room doctor.