Brea : Motorcyclist Killed Trying to Retrieve Bike

A Santa Ana motorcyclist was killed early Sunday on the Orange Freeway when he was struck by a car while trying to retrieve the cycle from which he and a passenger had just been thrown.

Wayne Jay Stanton, 20, was apparently traveling south at 60 m.p.h. on the freeway near Tonner Canyon Road when he changed lanes and his tires struck the lane divider dots, commonly known as Botts dots, police said.

CHP spokesman Rick Crow said that Stanton lost control of the motorcycle and he and passenger Sylvia Campello, 26, of Anaheim, landed on the freeway’s center divider. When Stanton tried to retrieve his motorcycle, which was lying in the fast lane of the highway, he was struck by a woman driving a Nissan 300 ZX, Crow said.

Stanton was pronounced dead at the scene. Campello, who suffered moderate injuries when thrown from the motorcycle, was taken to St. Jude Hospital in Fullerton where she was reported in stable condition by a hospital spokeswoman.

Police identified the driver of the car as Christine Devich of Fullerton. Crow said she was not injured and that he did not expect her to be charged in the incident.

Botts dots are the raised pieces of material placed at short intervals separating the lanes on the freeway, which cause a slight jolt to cars that drive over them. The dots were designed to alert drivers they are straying into another lane.