AUGUST 30, 2015
CARMEL, NY
A 22-year-old motorcyclist, Jeffrey Divine of Stormville, died early Sunday in a collision with an SUV traveling the wrong way on the Taconic State Parkway, authorities said.
The biker apparently hit a wall along the roadway after the collision with the Subaru at Bryant Pond Road, Putnam Valley Fire Chief Shawn Keeler said.
Paramedics pronounced Divine dead at the scene.
State police said Melida Espinal, 40, of Danbury, Connecticut, drove the 2006 Subaru. Espinal and two passengers suffered minor injuries.
No charges have been filed as state police investigators continue to review evidence in the 3:35 a.m. crash.
The preliminary investigation found Espinal drove the 2006 Subaru south in the northbound lanes after entering the roadway at Peekskill Hollow Road, state police said in a news release. The Subaru crashed head-on with the Suzuki motorcycle heading north about eight-tenths of a mile from the ramp, police said.
The investigation closed the northbound lanes for close to six hours. Keeler said the motorcycle ended up in several pieces and the Subaru faced south in the northbound lanes. The Mahopac Falls Fire Department Ambulance Corps responded.
State police detained the Subaru occupants and investigated for hours. The lanes reopened at about 8:45 a.m.
Anyone who may have witnessed Sunday morning's crash is asked to contact the State Police Cortlandt Barracks Bureau of Criminal Investigation at 914-788-8044 or after business hours at 914-737-7171.
The crash was the latest recent fatal accident on the Taconic. Three people, including a toddler, were killed in a four-car crash on the Taconic in Yorktown Aug. 15. A Bronx man was driving north, crashed into the embankment and center median, went airborne and struck two vehicles in the southbound lanes.
The same day, A 38-year-old Brewster woman was killed on the Taconic in LaGrangeville when her car went off the parkway and into the woods.