Fatal crash ruled avoidable by coroner’s jury
The motorcycle crash that claimed 22-year-old Clinton Burke’s life just over a year ago was ruled an avoidable accident by Fayette County Coroner’s jurors on Wednesday. Jurors said Burke’s speed and loss of control of his motorcycle were factors in the June 20 accident along Route 119 in Point Marion.
Burke, heading north on Route 119, swerved around a line of cars that was stopped behind a house trailer and hit a tractor trailer driven by Ronald Gill. Burke’s body was found underneath the truck. The tractor-trailer was moving down the roadway after the house trailer had partially pulled over so that it could pass.
William Pruitt, who was the last car in the line behind the house trailer, said he had just started to move when he saw Burke come around a bend in the road, driving at the high rate of speed. Pruitt told police he watched in his rear view mirror as Burke swerved and then hit the truck.
He said that Burke’s motorcycle came out from under the truck, but Burke did not.
Ronald Gill, the driver of the truck, said little during the inquest. However, state police trooper Christopher Babirad, who investigated the accident, testified that Gill said at the accident scene that he tried to stop but could not.
Accident reconstructionist Cpl. Joseph D’Andrea estimated Gill’s speed between 26 and 30 mph, testified Babirad.
Jurors cleared Gill of all responsibility in the accident.
Burke’s mother, Monica Ruble, said during the inquest that her son was in a prior motorcycle accident in March 2000 that left him unable to fully use the fingers of his right hand. In that accident, someone pulled out in front of her son, said Ruble.
She also said that Burke relied on the back brakes of his motorcycle because of his weakened fingers, and noted that the back brakes only account for about 25 percent of the total brake function.
Ruble described her son as a strong-willed young man who was an accomplished motorcyclist. After his first accident, Ruble said he dealt with his limitations by adapting his actions.
“He made himself a lefty. What he couldn’t do with his right hand, he just did with his left. He was that kind of kid: he didn’t let anything get him down,” said Ruble.
Coroner Dr. Phillip E. Reilly presided over the inquest.