Officer Teaching Motorcycle Class Injured by Pickup
A Fullerton police officer who instructs other officers throughout the county on how to ride police motorcycles was critically injured Thursday when he was hit by a truck while teaching a class, police said.
Officer William Donald Kendricks, 33, was on a training ride with 16 of his students when the 1:30 p.m. accident occurred, Newport Beach Police Sgt. Andy Gonis said.
A 17-year-old youth from Newport Beach was driving a 1990 GMC pickup truck north on Newport Boulevard near Hospital Road when he made an illegal right turn from the center lane and cut in front of Kendricks and another officer, Gonis said.
“One officer was able to swerve to the left and avoid the truck (but Kendricks) veered to the right and was hit,” Gonis said.
The accident occurred next to Hoag Hospital, but paramedics transported Kendricks by helicopter to the trauma unit at Western Medical Center-Santa Ana, Gonis said.
The 17-year-old boy was cited for an illegal right turn, Gonis said.
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