BRINNON — A motorcyclist from Shelton died and a Port Angeles woman known for her memorial efforts on behalf of her late son was injured in a collision north of Brinnon on Saturday.
Rickie A.F. Zehner, 53, died of injuries he received when he swerved his 2003 blue Harley-Davidson motorcycle into the oncoming lane on U.S. Highway 101 and collided with a 2007 Nissan Armada SUV driven by Tami Ziegler, 43, of Port Angeles, the State Patrol reported Saturday night.
Ziegler, who was taken to Jefferson Healthcare hospital in Port Townsend, organized a scholarship benefit earlier this summer in memory of her honor-student son, Mason, who was killed in a motorcycle accident in Oregon last year.
Her condition was unavailable from the Port Townsend hospital Saturday night.
According to the State Patrol, Zehner was riding his motorcycle northbound on Highway 101 when he came upon a vehicle turning left from the two-lane highway about 3 miles north of Brinnon at about 11:30 a.m. Saturday.
Instead of slowing, he took “evasive action,” according to a trooper at the scene, and swerved the Harley into the southbound lane — and the path of Ziegler’s SUV, which was towing a 20-foot travel trailer.
The Harley crashed into the travel trailer, sending the SUV into a ditch and back into the southbound lane.
Zehner, who was wearing a helmet, was flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where he was later pronounced dead.
Two passengers in the Ziegler SUV — Daelan Ziegler, 14, and Austin Rush, 17, both off-road enthusiasts with the Olympic Peninsula Motorcycle Club — were not injured, the State Patrol reported.
Daelan’s older brother, Mason Ziegler, was 16 when he was killed in an off-road motorcycle accident on the Oregon coast in August 2012.
Tami Ziegler organized a memorial scholarship in Mason’s name to benefit a member of his Port Angeles High School Class of 2014.
The July 6 multi-event benefit took place at four venues in and around Port Angeles and included a street bike run, vintage bike show, motocross grand prix, 5K and 10K walk-and-run events, a spaghetti feed and silent auction.
