Four Hospitalized In Separate Bike Week Accidents

OCEAN CITY -
With a strong police presence in Ocean
City and outside the
resort, the 2008 Bike Week was fairly calm despite an estimated 100,000-plus
motorcycles descending on the area, but there were two serious accidents
involving bikes that sent four people to the hospital with various severe
injuries.

The first occurred last
Wednesday before the official Bike Week events even began when a motorcycle

carrying two people collided with a passenger car on Coastal Highway at 35^th Street. According to

police reports, just before 7 p.m. last Wednesday, a Honda Civic driven by
Beverly Bricker, 47, of Silver Spring,
Md., pulled onto Coastal Highway
from 35^th Street.

Bricker began to cross Coastal Highway and
pulled into the path of a motorcycle operated by Alfred Rasel, 36, of Amity,
Pa. Rasel collided with Bricker's vehicle and both he and his passenger, Bobby
Alderson, 39, of Washington,
Pa., were ejected from the bike.
According to police reports, Rasel and Alderson each slid nearly the length of
the city block before coming to rest near the intersection of Coastal Highway and
36^th Street.

Both suffered serious
injuries and were ultimately flown by Maryland State Police helicopter to PRMC
in Salisbury.
Bricker was not injured in the crash. No charges have been filed.

On Saturday night,
another serious accident involving a motorcycle and a passenger car occurred at
67^th Street
and Coastal Highway
with circumstances similar to those of the accident on Wednesday. Around 9:30
p.m., a motorcycle operated by Joseph Stiner, 57, of Perryville, Md., attempted
to turn onto 67^th Street from the northbound lanes of Coastal Highway.
Stiner reportedly failed to yield the right-of-way to southbound traffic on Coastal Highway and
was struck by an Oldsmobile Aurora driven by a 57-year-old local man.

Stiner and his
passenger, 57-year-old Deborah Stiner, were both ejected from the motorcycle.
Joseph Stiner sustained serious leg injuries and was flown to PRMC by MSP.
Deborah Stiner was taken by ambulance to PRMC with minor injuries. The driver
of the car was not injured in the collision. Stiner was listed as the 'at
fault' operator in the accident.

While alcohol was not
listed as a factor in either accident, a multi-agency special drunk driving
enforcement detail during Bike Week resulted in 26 DUI arrests in Ocean City
and the immediate surrounding area from Thursday to Sunday, although it is
important to point out most of the arrests did not involve bikers. Of the 26

arrests, just five occurred in Ocean City with more than half in the West Ocean City area.