Two motorcyclists die on Dragon
2005-07-23
by Anna C. Irwin
of The Daily Times Staff
Two people died in motorcycle accidents that happened a few miles and several hours apart on the Dragon, the winding 11-mile section of U.S. 129 between Tab Cat Creek and the North Carolina line.
The body of David Workman, 48, of Alva, Fla., was found Friday morning after his 14-year-old son Sergio, despite several broken bones, climbed 25 to 30 feet up an embankment to the roadside where a motorist saw the boy and called for help just after 11 a.m.
Tennessee Highway Patrol Trooper Phil Little said Workman was riding his 2005 BMW motorcycle up the mountain with his son as a passenger Thursday afternoon or evening. Little said it appeared he missed a curve and went off the road near the 10-mile marker. The motorcycle traveled about 30 feet down a steep embankment and struck a tree.
Workman and his son were vacationing with other family members in Western North Carolina and left Thursday afternoon to ride the Dragon. They were to have returned by 7 p.m. Thursday and were reported missing late Thursday.
The injured teenager was flown to University of Tennessee Medical Center by Lifestar and was listed in stable condition although suffering from the emotional trauma of his father's death and the night spent on the mountainside. Little said the youth had not been interviewed to determine what time the accident occurred.
Rural/Metro Ambulance Service and Blount County Volunteer Rescue Squad personnel used a system of ropes to retrieve Workman's body, which was taken to Blount Memorial Hospital.
At 1:15 p.m. Friday as the emergency responders completed the technical rescue/recovery, another motorcycle accident was reported near Mile Marker 8.
Little said a 2004 Buell motorcycle ridden by Jack Wolfe of Hagerstown, Md., went off the road on a curve, traveled about 100 feet down a steep embankment and landed against a tree.
Rescuers rushed the two miles from the recovery site of the first crash to the scene of the second, then launched another technical rescue effort using a system of ropes to lower paramedics to the critically injured man. It took almost an hour to bring the victim secured in a Stokes basket back to the roadside.
Friends said Wolfe had come to ride the Dragon to celebrate his birthday. He was 62 on Friday.
A Rural/Metro ambulance took Wolfe down the mountain a few miles to a landing zone set up near the Calderwood powerhouse by Blount County Sheriff's Office deputies. He was flown by Lifestar to UT Medical Center. He apparently died on the way to the hospital.
Topic: Two die on Dragon, (last weekend) (Read 2059 times)