BEAVER DAM/LITTLEFIELD, Ariz., April 1, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — Officials have identified a motorcyclist who died after a collision Sunday afternoon on Interstate 15 near the Arizona-Utah border.
Juan Jose Ortiz, 48, from Henderson, Nevada, died at the scene, Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman Bart Graves told Gephardt Daily.
Graves said emergency crews responded to a call on I-15 northbound at mile marker 13 near Littlefield at 1:52 p.m.
“A motorcycle operated by Ortiz was riding in the left travel lane at a high rate of speed when he failed to negotiate a curve in the roadway,” Graves said. “His vehicle struck the median barrier wall.”
The Beaver Dam/Littlefield Fire Department said in a Facebook post that Ortiz sustained fatal injuries and was pronounced dead after life-saving measures were unsuccessful.
A second motorcycle struck Ortiz’s motorcycle; the operator of that motorcycle was critically injured and taken to Dixie Regional Medical Center in St. George.
According to the Facebook post, an off-duty firefighter/paramedic from San Bernardino County Fire Department and an off-duty paramedic from Seattle witnessed the accident and administered initial aid to the injured motorcyclists.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety is investigating the cause of the accident. It’s not clear at this time whether impairment was a factor.
Gephardt Daily will have more on this developing story as information is made available.
