Boaters were enjoying life in Sarasota Bay and at Beer Can Island at the north end of Longboat Key April 4 when a motorcycle crashed into a car on the Longboat Pass Bridge that connects Longboat Key to Anna Maria Island.
“I heard it,” said Skip St. John of Bradenton Beach, who was on a boat anchored east of the bridge.
“The driver was hysterical, jumping and screaming. Then a guy on a bicycle came up and started to help. People on the beach threw up towels and ice. This all happened before the police and fire department came. Then the good Samaritan bicyclist just put down the towels and rode off,” St. John added.
Traffic was delayed on Gulf Drive-Gulf of Mexico Drive for almost two hours. Some people parked their cars and continued to their destinations on foot.
Dylan Zachary Loeschman, 21, of Bradenton, sustained a broken nose and minor injuries after being ejected from his motorcycle into the rear window of the car ahead of him on the bridge, according to a Longboat Key police report.
LBK police, fire and emergency medical personnel responded to the 2 p.m. crash and transported Loeschman to Blake Medical Center in Bradenton, where he was treated and released.
Bradenton Beach police provided assistance with traffic control.
LBK police ticketed Loeschman for driving with a suspended/revoked license, no motorcycle endorsement and careless driving.
Alfredo Chavez, 23, of Bradenton, who was driving the vehicle ahead of Loeschman’s was issued a citation for no driver’s license.
Both vehicles were towed from the scene.
Spring break is “definitely as busy as last year, if not busier,” according to BBPD Detective Sgt. Lenard Diaz.
“The biggest precaution you can take is patience,” he said.