First Deaths From The Opening Weekend At Sturgis Rally

The opening weekend of Sturgis is now in the history books as the rally continues through this coming weekend in South Dakota.

With such a heavy concentration of motorcycles in one area, you hope for no fatalities or injuries, but undoubtedly, they are bound to happen.

Last year after the opening weekend, there were no deaths reported although, there were 7 serious crashes involving motorcycles with injuries.

Two people are reported dead from separate accidents on Saturday according to KFYR-TV.

The first crash happened on Highway 85, in the afternoon, South of Cheyenne Crossing. The driver failed to make a turn, went off the road, crashed his bike through a fence. This driver was pronounced dead at the scene.

In the second crash in the evening on Saturday, just out of Deadwood, involved a side by side on Maitland Road. The driver was not able to negotiate a turn and rolled his UTV. In this accident, the driver had a passenger riding with him. Both were taken to the hospital where the driver died from his injuries. The passenger was injured and is expected to live.

Before the rally officially started, two motorcyclists from Arizona were killed in a crash in Box Elder, just outside of Rapid City Thursday according to the Rapid City Journal. 

The Sturgis Rally continues through Aug 12th in South Dakota.

(source)