ENCINITAS (NEWS 8/CNS) - A motorcyclist smashed his bike into the rear of a sheriff's patrol car, as the deputy made a left turn, and was killed in Encinitas Sunday.
The crash was at about 11:30 a.m. on South Coast Highway 101 north of D Street, according to Lt. Amber Baggs of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department. Witnesses told deputies the biker was speeding on northbound Highway 101, sheriff's Deputy Tammy Bennetts said.
A deputy, who was on duty, was headed south on Highway 101 in a patrol vehicle and began a left turn as the bike approached.
"We could hear the speed and then all of a sudden we heard this weird pop everyone just kind of knew something happened," said Martita Foss who was at an art fair when she heard the crash. The motorcycle struck the rear passenger side door of the deputy's car and died at the scene, Bennetts said.
"The bike was down; the guy's legs were up. He looked like he just careened into the SUV," said Foss. "The cop comes out of his car and the people were rushing to help trying to pull the guy out - wherever he was."
The rear passenger door on the deputy's SUV was crushed with windows shattered and the top of the frame was dented as well.
The deputy and another person performed CPR trying to save the motorcyclist, but it was too late.
"They kept trying trying, trying, trying... even until the ambulance came," said Foss. No estimate on the motorcycle's speed was immediately available, nor was it revealed immediately if the deputy had been responding to an emergency or had activated the car's lights or siren. No names were immediately released.