Man killed by car after falling off motorcycle being towed in Arlington, police say
A vehicle was using tow straps to pull a motorcycle with a rider on it in Arlington early Thursday morning when the man fell off the bike, landing in the opposite lane of traffic where an oncoming car hit him, police said.
The man, whose identity wasn’t immediately released, was pronounced dead on the scene. He was in his 30s.
The driver of the Honda Odyssey that ran into the man stopped to help, thinking he had hit a pedestrian and not a motorcyclist, police spokesperson Lt. Christopher Cook told the Star-Telegram in a phone interview. The driver who was towing the motorcycle fled the scene.
Officers initially weren’t sure what to make of the crash in the 200 block of West Park Row Drive when they arrived on the scene around 3:45 a.m., Cook said. They recovered an abandoned bike a couple hundred feet down the road, he said, that had tow straps attached to it that had become disconnected. The bike was disabled.
The driver of the Odyssey, who was in the eastbound lanes, saw a vehicle coming toward him in the westbound lanes around the time he hit the man, Cook said. Investigators surmised that vehicle was towing the motorcycle as the man rode on it.
Police turned to YouTube to investigate this surprisingly well-known phenomenon, Cook said, and easily found several videos documenting crashes involving motorcycles being towed with tow straps. It’s “very dangerous,” he said.
“You can find a lot of motorcycle tow strap wrecks on YouTube for some reason. I totally understand now — because it didn’t make a lot of sense,” Cook said. “They’re very unpredictable when you’re towing with the tow strap and you get a lot of people that just fall off the bike.”
It’s unclear how the man fell into the road. He was likely instantly killed in the crash, Cook said.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office will identify the victim pending notification of next of kin.
Following the crash, police are now trying to figure out who was driving the vehicle that fled the scene and what circumstances led to this person towing a motorcyclist early Thursday morning. Police also hope to determine whom the motorcycle, a Honda CB 600, belongs to.
The driver of the Odyssey, who happens to be a professional truck driver, won’t face any charges, Cook said. He wasn’t impaired and was cooperative with police.
The man didn’t think much of the other vehicle when he first saw it since it continued past him, Cook said.
He was unable to tell what kind of vehicle it was, he said. He only saw headlights.
Anyone with information on the crash is asked to call Investigator Dane Ritcheson at 817-575-8601, police said. People can also call Tarrant County Crime Stoppers at 817-469-TIPS, where they can stay anonymous and could be eligible for a cash reward.
