Motorcyclist Seriously Hurt
A motorcyclist suffered massive head injuries Thursday after he collided with a car and was catapulted 57 feet while trying to beat a red light at an Irvine intersection, police said.
Kenneth Michael Ziegler, 28, of Irvine was taken by helicopter to Western Medical Center in Santa Ana, where a hospital spokeswoman said he was in “very critical” condition in the intensive care unit. He was not wearing a helmet at the time of the accident, police said.
The 3:58 p.m. crash closed the intersection of East Yale Loop and Barranca Parkway, snarling traffic in the Woodbridge community. The driver of the car, Sheela Ann Jackson, 29, of Irvine, was not injured.
Irvine Police Sgt. Jim Broomfield said that the accident occurred when Jackson began turning left onto Barranca Parkway from the southbound lane of East Yale Loop as the signal light turned yellow.
When Jackson saw the northbound motorcyclist approaching, Broomfield said, she stopped in the intersection. The signal turned red, but Ziegler rode through the intersection and struck the right side of Jackson’s 1979 Ford Mustang, Broomfield said.
Broomfield said witnesses indicated that Ziegler was traveling about the speed limit of 45 miles per hour.
Jackson was not cited. An investigation is continuing.
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