PORT ANGELES — A Port Angeles motorcyclist died after he suddenly veered off Tumwater Truck Route and was thrown from his motorcycle.
John M. Fullerton, 59, had been riding southbound with a group of other motorcyclists on the truck route — state Highway 117 — just south of Marine Drive when the accident occurred about 6 p.m. Sunday, Port Angeles Deputy Chief Brian Smith said Monday.
Summoned by the other riders, Fullerton was found seriously injured by police and medics in a ditch on the west side of the road.
His heavily damaged Harley-Davidson motorcycle lay nearby.
Smith said other motorcyclists told investigators that they did not know why Fullerton left the road and tumbled into the ditch.
He was wearing a helmet. No other vehicles were believed to be involved, Smith said.
“As far as we can tell, there is no external reason outside of the driver that would have caused him to leave the road,” Smith said.
“The road does curve there, but it is a long, sweeping curve — not a sharp curve.”
Smith said the cause of the wreck was still under investigation and that police will wait for blood toxicology tests to determine if drugs or alcohol were factors.
Medics attempted to revive Fullerton at the scene. He was taken to Olympic Medical Center, then airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where he died.
Fullerton is survived by his wife, Betsy, and a 10-year-old son, Josiah.
Fullerton had retired from the Coast Guard and from Washington Marine Repair in Port Angeles, Mrs. Fullerton said.
“He was a longtime member of the Amigos Motorcycle Club, too,” she said.
“He loved fishing, boating and, of course, motorcycles.”
Earlier on Sunday he and his friends had gone on a motorcycle poker run to Port Townsend, she said.
“Afterwards he was just hanging out with his friends,” she said.
Mrs. Fullerton said that funeral services for her husband had not yet been set.
“We will also want to coordinate with his friends and the motorcycle club for the services,” she said.
__________
Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
