California police officer dies after motorcycle collides with minivan
Published June 15, 2016
A Northern California police officer died in a motorcycle crash, authorities announced Tuesday.
San Jose Police Chief Eddie Garcia said Officer Michael Katherman, 34, was riding his patrol motorcycle in uniform when he was involved in a head-on collision with a minivan at around 4:30 p.m.
Garcia said at a news conference that the driver attempted to make a left turn down a street when he collided with Katherman on his motorcycle.
A witness pulled over to assist Katherman and used his police radio to call for help. The officer was transported to Regional Medical Center where he was later pronounced dead.
The unidentified driver of the minivan stayed on the scene and was cooperating with police. Garcia said the man wasn’t in custody and it didn’t appear drugs or alcohol played a factor in the crash.
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo released a statement sending his condolences to Katherman’s family.
“Heroes lift us all through their sacrifice, compelling us to be our best through their example,” Liccardo said. “Mike Katherman was that hero, performing his noble duty to serve and protect until his last moments. I ask our residents to join in sending our prayers and thoughts to Mike’s wife, his sons, his family and friends, and the entire SJPD family during this time of grief.”
The San Jose Police Department also released a message on Twitter.
Katherman was an 11-year veteran of the police force. He is survived by his wife and two sons.
Victims identified in fatal crash on Route 146 in Halfmoon
Charges are pending in head-on collision
By Amanda Fries
Updated 10:13 pm, Monday, June 13, 2016
Photo: Lori Van Buren
Scene of a three car accident on Rt. 146 just north of Upper Newtown Rd on Monday, June 13, 2016 in Halfmoon, N.Y. One person was killed and two people were taken to Albany Medical Center. (Lori Van Buren / ... more
HALFMOON — A 73-year-old Mechanicville man died Monday afternoon in a three-car crash on Route 146 near the intersection of Vosburgh Road in Halfmoon, according to Saratoga County Sheriff Michael Zurlo.
Francis E. Morin was pronounced dead at the scene. Ann Morin, 73, a passenger in his vehicle, was seriously injured, Zurlo said.
Investigators found that a car driven by Rosemary Joslin, 61, of Clifton Park, was southbound on Route 146 around 1:30 p.m. when her vehicle entered the northbound lane and struck Morin's vehicle head-on. Joslin was seriously injured.
She and Ann Morin were taken to Albany Medical Center Hospital. Joslin's car also struck a vehicle driven by Jamie W. Alling, 43, of Greenwich, who was not injured.
The collision is being investigated by the Sheriff's Office Collision Reconstruction Unit and the Traffic Safety Unit, and charges are pending.
The sheriff's office was assisted by responders from Clifton Park Halfmoon EMS, the Clifton Park-Halfmoon and Hillcrest fire departments, State Police and the state Department of Transportation.
Fatal accident: Police release report on Mashpee crash
Speed and not using a seat belt are among the fatal factors in the February crash that killed Cristina Moretti, 47, of Mashpee, MA.
ZoomPhoto courtesy of Cristina Moretti's family
Cristina Moretti of Mashpee died in an automobile accident on Feb. 15, 2016.
By Mary Ann Bragg
Posted Jun. 15, 2016 at 8:54 AM
Updated at 9:28 AM
MASHPEE — A Mashpee police report on a one-car crash in February that killed driver Cristina Moretti of Mashpee indicates excessive speed, the reported “jerking” of the steering wheel and the lack of use of seat belts contributed to her death.
Moretti, 47, had been driving her black Saturn Ion 3 north at 12:07 a.m. Feb. 15 on Great Neck Road North when the car ran off the road to the right just past the intersection of Lowell Road, hitting a guardrail, a telephone pole and then a tree, police said. Moretti was taken to Falmouth Hospital where she was pronounced dead. The one passenger in the car, Jaime Childs, 39, of Mashpee, was flown by a medical helicopter to Rhode Island Hospital in Providence with what were considered life-threatening injuries, but survived.
Because of Moretti’s speed of about 58 miles per hour in a posted 45 miles per hour residential zone and her “jerking” of the steering wheel prior to the crash, she was unable to maintain stability of the vehicle while attempting to avoid something that had “darted out” in front of the car, according to the crash reconstruction report of Mashpee police Detective David Mackiewicz.
Mashpee Police Chief Scott Carline released the crash reconstruction report and interview records last week at the request of the Times.
The state medical examiner’s office ruled the cause of Moretti's death as blunt head trauma from a motor vehicle crash, Mackiewicz wrote in the report. Her death was in part attributed to her not wearing a seatbelt, Mackiewicz wrote.
“Had Moretti worn her seatbelt, her fatal injuries could have been significantly reduced, if not completely eliminated,” he wrote.
Childs, a sergeant in the county sheriff's office, had met Moretti that evening at 10 p.m. at Bobby Byrne’s restaurant in Mashpee, after Moretti had gotten off work there, according to the recollections of Childs as of Feb. 17. Moretti had worked at the restaurant for about two years, restaurant general manager Patricia Peters told the Times in February.
Childs and Moretti spent some time at the restaurant and then went to The Lanes Bowl & Bistro in Mashpee for dinner. At The Lanes a buffalo chicken pizza they ordered was delivered with blue cheese on it, and the two women left the restaurant because Childs is allergic to blue cheese, Childs told the police. They were headed toward Childs’ house to get medicine to help with an allergic reaction when the car crashed, Childs told the police. Just before the crash, “something dark darted out” in front of Moretti’s vehicle, causing Moretti to jerk the wheel in an attempt to avoid the object, Childs told police.
Although Childs and Moretti had a “couple of drinks” at Bobby Byrne’s, according to information provided to police by Jeffrey Moore, president and owner of Bobby Byrne’s Management Corp., the conclusion of the police report does not reference alcohol as a factor in the crash.
Great Neck Road North was shut down for several hours after the crash. The crash damaged Eversource electric company equipment and caused a 90-minute power outage for about 200 customers, a company spokeswoman said.
Moretti had three adult sons, and was recalled after her death as a cherished confidante to many of her co-workers and as having a knack for making customers feel comfortable. Moretti’s sons raised $30,825 to pay for a wake and burial expenses, according to a GoFundMe page they created after her death.
25-year-old JoCo., woman dead after head-on collision in Olathe 
