This one doesn’t make a lot of sense.
According to the Orange County Coroner’s office, a male bike rider was killed while riding on the 5 Freeway in Santa Ana last night.
The collision took place on the southbound I-5 north of 4th Street just before 11 pm, when the rider was struck by multiple vehicles. The victim has not been publicly identified; no word on whether authorities know who he was, or if it is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.
No information is given for how the collision occurred, or whether he was riding on the shoulder or in the traffic lanes. However, there is an exit ramp at 4th; if he was attempting to continue on the freeway it would have put him in the path of exiting vehicles.
And no explanation is given for what he was doing on the freeway at that hour. Or at all.
Hopefully more information will become available later that will shed light on this troubling case.
This is the 43rd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the ninth in Orange County; that compares to just two in the county this time last year. And he is the fifth cyclist to be killed in Santa Ana in the last 36 months.
Update: It gets even stranger.
According to the Orange County Register, 21-year old Tustin resident Jordan Ames was riding south in the center carpool lane — not the right shoulder — when he veered in front of traffic and was hit by a Honda CRV. He was then thrown into the main traffic lanes, where he was hit multiple times.
How he even got to the car pool lane on a busy freeway — let alone what he was doing there — is still to be determined. A lot of questions will have to be answered before this one makes any sense.
Meanwhile, a commenter describes coming on the scene in the immediate aftermath of the crash. But be warned, the description is very graphic; you may not want to read it.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Jordan Ames and his loved ones.
Thanks to James Johnson of Johnson Attorneys Group for the heads-up.
