Passenger Dies as Motorcycle Runs Into Van

A female passenger was thrown from a motorcycle and fatally injured when it crashed into a van in Huntington Beach, police said Friday. Debbra Egeler, 33, of Huntington Beach suffered a broken neck when driver Mark Byres, 31, drove into the van on Golden West Street near Warner Avenue on Thursday night. Byres, also of Huntington Beach, was arrested on suspicion of felony drunk driving and manslaughter.

He was treated for a broken right ankle in the jail ward at UC Irvine Medical Center, Huntington Beach, police investigator Brian Davidson said.

Egeler died at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center about 3 hours after the 7:15 p.m. accident, police said. Police said she was not wearing a helmet. They did not know if Byres was wearing one.

The two were headed southbound “at a high rate of speed” and “under the influence, as far as we’re concerned,” Davidson said. Hospital blood-test results were not available.

On Sunday, a 16-year-old Huntington Beach High School student, also a passenger on a motorcycle and also without a helmet, was thrown from the motorcycle and killed when it hit a car.

In that accident, Leslie Grossman died on impact when the bike driven by Scott Melnyczok, 18, of Daytona Beach, Fla., crashed on Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach, about 6 miles from Thursday’s crash.

Police reports say Melnyczok was speeding. Melnyczok, who suffered minor injuries, was charged with suspicion of manslaughter and felony drunk driving.